Once More Unto the Breach, Volume 1
by moonswirl
Summary: SOMEWHERE UNSEEN ABOVE THE EARTH, THERE IS A BREACH. Across that breach, there lies another Earth. A broken Earth. And there's trouble brewing on both of them. A weapon that must not be made, a plot to uncover before it's too late, and heroes brought together. Daily lead up/AU crossover between The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. (combined with volume 2)
1. DAY 001 (vol 1, ch 1)

**_A/N:_** _Well here we go! This is my third year of running these '100 days to...' stories, the first year for Supergirl, last year for the four series of the Arrowverse. Last year I did it as smaller, separate blocks, but this year, because ambition got to me, I decided to make it a single, 100-day/chapter story. And I decided to craft myself a big ol' alternate universe, enabling me to start planning toward it well in time. So I've been preparing for this since last fall and now it's time to start! Of course, you may have seen the series of single chapter stories I've been putting out over the past few months, the 24 'Preludes,' giving you a peek into this other world (I highly recommend going back to check them out, for further information and lead up to this story.)_

 _The only other maintenance issue left for me to pass on has to do with the posting format. As it's not possible for me to create a story marked as crossing over between all four of the shows, I've split it into two volumes, one under the heading of The Flash and Supergirl, the other under the heading of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. The odd-numbered chapters will be in the former, the even-numbered in the latter. The easiest way to follow the story would be to put in for notification on both. Now on to the story!_

* * *

 **ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH  
** _Day 1 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 1_

 **Location:**  
 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**  
 _ **(ARGUS designation)**_

It had been just over two years now, from the day where she had been deposited back in the place where she had lived for the first fourteen years of her life. This was the place where she had been Kara Danvers, daughter of Jeremiah and Eliza, sister of Alexandra. This was the place where she had grown up, until the day where an incident had left her propelled into another world, just clinging to life, until she'd been found by a pair of scientists who had taken her broken little body and carried it to safety, fixed it, until she awoke and found… she had no memory of who she was, not one thing. Well, one thing. She remembered her name. Kara. Even now, all those years later, even after being back here for all this time, everything that came before her being tossed through a breach from her home in what they called Haven Quarter to the one called War Quarter was just gone.

Her mother, her sister, they both tried so hard to get her to remember, showing her pictures and videos, objects… They shared story upon story, and always they would get this look in their eyes that said 'oh you have to remember this, of course you do, because you're Kara. You're our Kara, you know this.' And much as she knew that they meant well, that they only tried so hard because they had faith in her, all she could feel was her own frustration rising. They tried, and they tried, and she did, too, honestly. But it just wasn't there for her to find, and the more they tried, it sometimes got to feeling like she wasn't enough for them. It made her think that she could never be Kara Danvers again, that she was now and forevermore Kara Zeta, the adopted daughter of Laura and Eliot Zeta of War Quarter, or as the people had come to know her… Black Siren.

She hadn't told her mother or sister about this ability she'd gained following her time with the Zetas. She didn't know why she'd bothered to hide it at first, especially when she still felt nothing toward them. _They_ had recognized her, but she had no memory of them at all. But… they had such emotions when they saw her, when they saw that she was alive, and well, and grown, and even though she didn't know them, she knew the difference between genuine and fake reactions. They were just so happy to have her back… What if their finding out what she'd become took away that hope she'd just given them? So she hadn't told them. Even so, back where she'd come from, she had used her powers to help her help the people of her quarter, of her city, and that drive hadn't been left behind.

And so, the Black Siren had started to do her part around this new city. Not that the transition had been an easy one. She had come from a world of pain and destruction, of fear and hatred and been dropped into… colors and laughter, and peace and quiet… No wonder they'd called it Haven. Of course, it wasn't all sunshine, or else she'd have had little to do as a heroine. But then there would just be times where she would look at this place, this generally calm place and think how none of them had any idea how good they had it, and it would frustrate her. And then at other times… she would look at this place, this peaceful place, and she would know: she would protect the Haven from anything or anyone attempting to harm it or its people.

For how little anyone could regret the world she'd left behind in returning here, Kara could not pretend as though there weren't things she did miss. For all the grief it had caused her in the end, she did miss Stein Labs and the man behind the place, Martin Stein. She missed the friends she'd made, hard earned as they had been. But most of all, most of all she missed her parents, and their little home. She had not seen them since she'd come back through that breach, and she often ached to think of them out there. With how suddenly she'd gone, she'd never gotten to say goodbye, and they'd had no idea she was leaving. Did they think she'd died? Had they been looking for her? Had the war reached them? Were they still alive?

She had returned to the place where she'd been born with the aid of a girl known as Seeker. If not for her, she would still have been out there, with her mother and father. Maybe things would have gotten better between them if she'd stayed… or maybe they would have gotten worse. She hadn't seen Seeker since the day she'd walked her through the breach out of War into Haven and, wishing her good luck, she'd left her there and disappeared again. Two years, three months, seventeen days and some hours… And then the counter had been turned back down to zero.

Out in the city at night, high above and looking down from some roof or another, Kara could almost forget if she was in one quarter or another. Here she was just in her city, and she watched over it, waiting to catch on to something, some sound or sight that would tell her… she was needed. That night, there _was_ something in the air, like an invisible presence… very near, almost… behind her?

Turning at once, ready to unleash a cry that could propel whoever was trying to sneak up on her far across a city block, she found… nothing. She frowned. The feeling was still there.

"Show yourself!" she called, even as the sky rippled and surrendered the shape of the dark-haired girl. "Seeker?" She could as easily have maintained her stance, not knowing what would bring her here on this night or any night after all this time, but for all the times she'd thought about the place where she'd made all the memories she still had in her life, and all the times she'd had to remind herself there was no way back, not without whatever had sent her there in the first place or without the one who'd brought her back, all she _could_ do now was to relax and stand up straight once again. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, if memory serves me right, when I brought you home there was talk of you owing me one?" Seeker had declared, walking up toward her. "If you're not too busy, I think I need to collect on that."

X

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**  
 **ARGUS HEADQUARTERS**

Dinah Drake knew better than to act in haste when bringing this matter before Director Heywood. They all dealt with breachers on an almost day to day basis, it was part of their job to recognize potential threats, whether they could affect their own Earth or the one across the breach, and to ensure they never got to be carried out. And this one… This one could be seen as little more than an inkling, as getting ahead of herself, but off of what little they did know… well, here she was. Here _they_ were.

"Thank you for coming, Detective Raatko," Dinah held out her hand to the woman as she was escorted through.

"Nyssa, please," she'd replied, shaking her hand and telling her how she'd just come from interviewing one last minute source. "Ready when you are."

Dinah wouldn't have gotten to this point, she knew, without the detective's help. Nyssa Raatko was known for being at once respectful toward and respected by those breachers who'd made the crossing on to their Earth for the sake of escaping the circumstances of their home quarters. And for that she had grown to be seen as an ally within their circles, someone who would help them settle somewhere without drawing attention to themselves, who by reputation alone would be heard if she came calling. Dinah had called on her for that reason, as well as the fact that she'd already caught wind of some of the situation in a previous encounter.

Some months ago, Dinah had come to witness an exchange which took place, between two girls out of the quarter designated as Mist and three women out of the one called War. The Mist girls had handed something over to the War women in exchange for forged documentation that would allow them to settle on Main Earth. The women and the item they'd traded for had been apprehended, while the girls – with Detective Raatko's aid – had been settled somewhere safe after having told the nature of their trade, but even so… Now they knew what the women had been after, and it set the ARGUS agent on the investigation which now brought her and the detective to the door of Henry Heywood's office.

"Agent Drake, Detective Raatko, please," the director motioned for them to sit across from his desk as they were let into the office. The women sat, and the director gave a nod that told them to proceed.

Despite its potentially inoffensive sounding designation, Mist Quarter was by no means quaint. On sight alone, maybe, like in a photograph or video recording, it might have seemed normal enough, in need of a bit of embellishment, some tender care, sure, but then you would see its people and you would start to see something wasn't right. Why the masks? And then you would start taking a closer look at that image, notice the lack of greenery. If you should be so unfortunate as to then find yourself _in_ Mist Quarter, you would know at once why it had gotten its name as soon as you breathed its air. The ARGUS agents who had found themselves posted in that quarter certainly didn't look to it as the opportunity of a lifetime. It felt a lot more like punishment.

The air would not so soon kill you, no, but the longer you were exposed, say if you spent your whole life there… Even a short exposure would not go without leaving symptoms, which left its residents on a continual battle against their own air. They had their masks, and their homes could count on decontamination and filtration to give them some peace of mind, though it was by no mean a fix. And then there was the water.

That was what the Mist girls had traded to the War women for their new identification papers. Water from their quarter, so little wanted, so easily attained. How could they _not_ accept the trade off? All they were told was that there was some way to make the crossing, and they would be met on the other side by these women, who wanted little more than the water in exchange for making them the papers they needed, wanted it to run experiments, which perhaps could lead to some breakthrough that might help fix some of the great wrongs of their own quarters. Never was it questioned why these people wouldn't make the crossing themselves if they were aware of the way in and out, or why they would be in contact with anyone who could provide these papers. Never did it occur to them to wonder if they were really using the water they said they were, or where they came from.

In the time since she'd become aware of this trade, Dinah _had_ made some effort in relaying what she'd found, but as of yet nothing had come of it. No one seemed to grasp where this could go. So she'd continued looking into it, only privately, until she might be able to bring it to the director, as she did now. For that she had recruited Detective Raatko, asking her to put out some feelers, where she could, see if she heard anything more about water trades out of Mist, and the involvement of War. The detective had done just that, bringing back the information she now submitted to Heywood.

The trade they had interrupted, as they'd learned, was not the first, which they could plainly have expected. In fact, the breachers out of Mist could recall whisperings of 'water for papers' for more than a year, maybe two, although more often than not they had ignored them, never believing that it could be so easy, that it clearly had to be a trick. But there were others, as trusting as those two girls Dinah had met, who _had_ performed the trade, gotten their papers and settled into their new lives, which meant that even though they had managed to foil one exchange, it was only one instance. Whoever wanted to use that water had already gotten their hands on some of it before. They were already doing whatever they intended to do with it, and while there had been no sign of their using it in any kind of attack as of yet, it was Dinah's opinion, and Nyssa's as well, that it could all change before long.

Thankfully, it was also Director Heywood's opinion. After hearing out the two women, taking in everything they had gathered so far, he had agreed to send out the Waverider and its team to investigate the matter. Dinah had known well enough this would be the course of action, and much as she would have liked to see this case through, she simply thanked the director and escorted the detective back out of his office. Snart and his team, they would be able to follow the trail through both Mist and War Quarters and, with any luck, put an end to this before it had the chance to become anything more.

"Do me a favor, keep your ear to the ground out there?" she'd told Nyssa before they parted ways. The detective met her request with an understanding nod, and off she went.

X

Kara had been told, once, about the existence of this other Earth, and even so, being here, it had taken her a little time to really comprehend what it was she was seeing. It looked a whole lot like Haven, it did, but eventually she had gotten to a point where she could look at the city around her and understand… it really was a whole other place. What really set her on track with it, strangely enough, were her powers. It was all about sound, this thing she could do, not just manipulating it but really feeling it out… Over time, she had developed something of a skill in using her ability to extend the reach of her hearing well beyond reach, and, being here… it all just sounded like another place, not Haven at all.

It was also this skill of hers which inevitably became useful to herself and Seeker. They didn't have to break into ARGUS to get what they were after. They only had to stand somewhere, well out of sight, where Kara might stop and listen.

As Seeker had explained it, she'd been scoping out Main Earth, as she would from time to time, to look after some people she'd helped across the breach from their Earth, from War Quarter. She could do that, Seeker. She could feel out where the breaches were, she could move from one place to another in this way, and she'd been using this ability to help people get away, every so often. It wasn't so clear cut, she couldn't just grab loads at once and simply drop them off on the other side, they had to think of the big picture. Either way, she had been here, and in her rounds, she'd spotted the detective.

Seeker knew her by reputation more than anything, but as she trailed after her, curious to see what she was doing, she'd found her talking to someone she recognized. It was a young man, and she recognized him. She'd been to Mist before – with some luck, knowing to bring a mask – after hearing about the place. After her own quarter, this one ranked right up there with some of the quarters she'd seen one was most likely to want to escape, and why should she only help her own people? This young man talking to the detective, she'd almost helped him cross, but then he'd changed his mind at the last second. Clearly, he must have changed his mind, and found another way across.

She'd managed to overhear part of their conversation, only enough to hear one thing… _water from Mist_ …

She'd followed the detective after this. She wasn't sure why she did it, but then when following the woman had taken her straight to ARGUS headquarters, all at once it felt like she needed to make a decision and quick. Something about the whole situation just nagged at her and she had to know. Thankfully, she so happened to know someone with the skill to help her reach a place even she couldn't get to, and fast. That had taken her, as fast as she could, across to Haven on Breach Earth, to find the girl she'd helped cross back to where she belonged a couple years before, the girl who'd told her about these powers she'd developed over in War. She'd spirited her away, back to Main Earth, back to ARGUS, and there they'd stopped, and Kara Danvers, the Black Siren, had listened.

The information she relayed had some effect on the both of them. Kara may not have been born to War, but it was all the world she'd known after losing her memories of Haven, and she didn't want anyone developing some new weapon to go after the people she'd cared about, who'd taken her in, any more than Seeker did. Kara did not know a whole lot about the young woman, but as the two of them took in what she'd just heard, she knew they had one thing in common. They both needed to do something about this.

"What do we do now?" Kara asked her. "What's the Waverider?"

"I know them, this is good, better than them sending out any outpost agents," Seeker promised her. "They're good, and they just might let a couple War girls like us give them a hand. What do you say?" Kara met her grin with a smirk.

"I say lead the way… Seeker," she pressed on the name, showing a curiosity without asking.

"It's Lena," she revealed. "But let's keep that between us."

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in Volume 2)_


	2. DAY 003 (vol 1, ch 2)

_Day 3 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 2_

 **Location:**  
 ** _THE TIME SHIP WAVERIDER  
_ _(GRANT INNOVATIONS designation)  
_ THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

Even as he had received the request of their occasional allies, the Flash and Kid Flash, to escort them through the breach and into Haven – which turned out to be the resolution to the delivery of a message to be brought to the Green Arrow – Leonard Snart had been called on by ARGUS to be briefed about a situation that he and his team were to look in on. So, after dispatching two of them – Sharpe and Lane – to take care of the speedsters' crossing, the rest of them had made their way to headquarters to find out what they were needed for.

It was all part of the deal, whether the others knew it or not (and he intended very much for them _not_ to know). Of the eleven of them on board the Waverider, only he knew that the 'breach ship' was in fact a time ship he had… acquired… in the far-flung future. It wasn't as though he'd set out one day and told himself 'here's what I need, a time traveling ship!' He wouldn't have even believed anything of the sort was actually possible if he hadn't been so suddenly and unexpectedly thrown into the future, just as this innovation in time ships was set to be unveiled to the world. Before he knew it, he'd stepped on to that ship, thinking maybe… just maybe… he could figure out how to fly the thing. An engine was an engine, wasn't it?

And, somehow, he had pulled it off. He'd made it back to his own time… and then ARGUS had to show up and snatch him up. Somehow, they had come to something of an understanding. He would get to continue occupying this ship, but he would do it while working for them. Bit by bit, he had come by his crew, and together they had been patrolling Breach Earth, ensuring no breachers went traipsing from quarter to quarter, making trouble, while also coming to people's aid where they were needed. It was not the path he had foreseen for himself, but by now he had sort of settled into the role. He took pride in the work that they did, whether he'd say it in as many words or not.

For the most part, they were left to their own devices. They had worked out something of a system for how they went about the various quarters of Breach Earth, minding the ones most likely to give or receive trouble the attention they required. But then, every once in a while, they would get called in for assistance back on Main Earth, called to escort back certain breachers who had made it across, or, like in this case, they would get called in to be informed of a potential or active situation the director wanted them to check out.

What they were brought in to investigate this time around involved water, which would have left them scratching their heads as to why they were called in, except it was water from Mist Quarter… pulled into War Quarter. _That_ was something else. The thing was, they had already heard about this, very briefly some time before, and as it turned out it was exactly what they were thinking about, all going back to the night they were called in to intercept a trio of women out of War who'd crossed over and dealt with a pair of girls out of Mist, offering them a way to settle on Main Earth in exchange for water from their quarter. They had found the women, gotten the water back and disposed of it where it could do no harm. But by what ARGUS was telling them now, there _had_ been successful exchanges, and this had all been going on for some time already. So they were to go and see what they could find.

Now back on the ship, they sat and stood around the bridge, the nine of them in wait of the return of Ava and Lucy. In the meantime, Leonard was surrounded by Winn Schott, also of ARGUS, police officers Ed Thawne and Quentin Lance, the alien M'gann M'orzz, and the four out of War Quarter, Ralph Dibny, Slade Wilson, Rip Hunter, and the amnesia-stricken one only known as Gideon.

They were all very familiar with the situation in both Mist Quarter and War. Four of them were _from_ War and had escaped it in coming aboard this ship. They hadn't even been civilians, all four of them soldiers, fighting to protect their people. All but Dibny had been subjects in special projects, Hunter and Gideon with Project Horus, Wilson with Project Mercury. It had left the first two with the wings of hawks (and in Gideon's case, left her without her memories), and the last with speed vastly beyond regular human capability. All three of them had run from those projects in the end, which had put them in the path of Dibny, who had set himself the task of finding them and returning them to where they were seen as belonging, until he'd realized that 'away from the reach of the projects' was precisely where they belonged. And soon after that the Waverider had found them.

To this day, they had never returned to their home quarter, fearing capture despite being under the protection of ARGUS, despite having abilities – thanks to the projects they had escaped – which should have enabled them to stay far out of the reach of those who sought them out. Even so, they understood what the potential was, for a weapon of that kind to be brought into existence and unleashed on the people who, like them, had just been trying to survive in the place where they had been born. There was no doubt to it, whatever was happening out there, they wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Any trip to Mist was something of an ordeal. They constantly had to ensure that there were no weaknesses in the ship that might let the air in, and that their equipment – in case they needed to leave the ship at any time – was also good to go. Leonard had called for Cat, the ship's A.I. to run the usual diagnostic perimeters for Mist visits, and the voice was heard, confirming that the diagnostic was now being performed. This request had been made and just as quickly put out of mind by most of them around the room, all but one, who became so distracted thinking about it that he didn't hear until the third call of his name when he was asked about the status of their breathing equipment. He could only silently raise his thumb, promising he'd take care of it.

He'd sworn not to tell. Under the slightest of threats of chaotic discomfort, but he had sworn. He would tell no one about the fact that 'Cat' the artificial intelligence was in fact Catherine Grant, of the far future, whose company had been… would be responsible for the design and construction of their ship the Waverider. He'd only come upon her, ironically enough, after his inspections following their last visit to Mist had led to his accidental discovery of the hidden compartment where she had been living, hidden, for the last several years, since the ship had fallen into the hands of Leonard Snart. Somehow, she had managed to remain unseen for all this time, passing herself off as their A.I., and she would likely have continued to be this way if he had not come too close to finding her out and she'd ended up having to decide to reveal herself to him.

He didn't like the idea of lying to the rest of his team, but he also remembered how she'd sworn him to secrecy, and so here he was. He made no assumptions whatsoever as to how long he would manage to keep up this secret. He could already imagine himself at some point trying so hard to deflect away from the subject that he would steel up by accident…

X

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

It seemed as though the times where the two of them were in agreement weren't what they had once been. They weren't always at odds, no, and when they were Firestorm together they continued to do a lot of good around the city. But a part of being Firestorm together, they knew, meant that even when they weren't merged into one, there was always a part of them that was bonded. They could never be out of one another's minds, not since the first time they had merged. And that had been fine… at first, and for a long while. It was only recently that their disagreements started to grow more pronounced, that they came very close to causing problems for more than just the two of them. If it wasn't for the fact that they both needed one another to continue doing the work that so mattered to the both of them, there was almost no doubt that Barry Allen would be well rid of his Firestorm partner, Eobard Thawne.

Neither of them knew how they'd come to have these abilities they had, or rather the potential for them to have it. There really had been no sign of anything at all until the day they'd met, introduced by Eobard's old friend, Nora Allen, Barry's once estranged, now reconnected mother, where the slightest of introductory handshakes had caused a reaction between the two men, remaining a mystery until the following week, when Eobard had tracked down his friend's son and confirmed that he'd been just as curious about what had happened, almost happened. That was the day they had merged for the first time. Before long, in discovering what they could do, before the name Firestorm was ever on the table, they had felt the call of wanting to help those who might need them and, little by little, they had become the heroes… _hero_ they could only ever have dreamed to be in the past. It had been good, it _was_ good.

Except when they started to disagree on methods of dealing with criminals, with breachers causing trouble, except when Eobard – the passenger – wanted Barry to use more force when dealing with those people than he was ready or willing to use. After a while it got to be that Barry wasn't sure anymore whether he was doing his best to find a compromise, something, so that the two of them might continue onward, knowing it was both of them or none at all, or if Eobard had found a way to appeal to his bare minimum and to the consequence of their parting in order to get what he wanted.

Some would say, even within his own circle of friends and allies, that maybe this was just his trust issues, born out of that whole mess of a situation with his mother while he was growing up. And maybe it was. Except it sort of wasn't… He had Eobard in his head, as much as the reverse was also true. It meant that he knew the guy about as well as anyone could know a person, considering their predicament.

Today for example, just today… They had been in just the right place and time to rescue a worker from a fall, and that had been one of those moments where they were in total agreement, where Barry could easily recall everything they had done together since becoming Firestorm. And then not long after that, they had come across a breacher. There had been no doubt to it that this was what the man was. Some of them you could just tell by looking at them, looking how they behaved and carried themselves. This one came out of Dark Quarter, it was easy to see with how he moved, how the daylight clearly disoriented him, to the point of growing violent.

Barry had known, just by looking at him, the man was just frightened, and who wouldn't be, after spending all your life in a place that had no recollection of the sun, who spent their lives in permanent night, and then coming here, to their Earth, the brightness so foreign that it hurt your eyes… Barry saw this in him, and he wanted nothing more but to help the man, to get him where he might be helped. There was special equipment out there, to help people out of Dark adjust to the light, and once he had that… But all Eobard would see was the man as he appeared, crashing and careening, pushing people, yelling at them… He wanted more, wanted Barry to subdue him rather than reason with him. Even after having handled the situation and handed the breacher off to ARGUS, the merged Firestorm had gone off on his own, driver arguing with passenger.

That was the sight Kara Danvers was treated to, as she followed Seeker. A fire headed man talking animatedly to himself. The breach hopper had claimed she knew some people here on Main Earth who could come in handy as they offered their services to the team from the Waverider, and this was where she had taken her, to find the first.

"Who's he?" Kara asked, still baffled as she watched the man with the head on fire talking to himself. Somehow, she didn't see him being much use to them, unless they wanted to accidentally set a building on fire.

"Well _he_ is Firestorm," Seeker gestured to the burning man. "Actually two people merged together." Kara went on looking at him now, and after a moment she understood. He wasn't talking to himself; he was talking to the other one.

"Doesn't sound like they get along too well," she pointed out.

"They have their moments," Seeker shrugged before motioning for Kara to follow her, walking in the direction of the one-sided argument. "Fellas, a word?" she called, and as Kara watched, the Firestorm man flared up and, after the flames dissipated, there stood two men. One of the them, the younger one, had been the face of the combined form she'd seen, so that had to make the older one 'the voice in his head.' Whatever they'd been arguing about, they put it aside for now, though something of it remained just there on their faces.

"What are you doing here, Seeker?" the older man asked, and Kara guessed he didn't care for her very much. Seeker went on without giving that undertone much attention.

"Kara, meet Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne, also known as Firestorm," she introduced. After a moment, Kara reached out her hand to the young one, Barry.

"Kara Z… Kara Danvers," she corrected herself quickly. Even after two years being back, two years of her having left Kara Zeta back in War Quarter, she still had to remind herself of her true name, her original name. "Black Siren," she tacked on, in hopes of distracting away from her slip up. They wouldn't understand the turmoil it left in her mind, attempting to reconcile who she had been in War, and who she'd been in those years she could not remember, and who she was expected to be since her return, who she _wanted_ to be. She wasn't about to get into that with the two of them standing before her.

"Hey," he'd nodded in greeting, momentarily letting go of what remained of his argument with his partner. "So how do you two know each other?" he asked, indicating Seeker.

"Gave her a ride home once and she owed me," Seeker told him, cutting to the chase. "There's a situation brewing. I thought the two of you might be able to lend a hand, that is, if you don't mind helping a lot of people back on Breach Earth," she told them, her gaze turning to Eobard. Was that their issue then, that he didn't like breachers? Kara looked at him now, and she could already feel herself readjusting her stance. Growing up as she'd done in War, knowing to keep a look out for people you didn't know, people you couldn't say 100% you could trust… That was what kept a lot of them alive. Seeker would have known that, too, so if she mistrusted the man, then Kara would have to keep that in mind.

For the time being, they had to focus on the situation at hand. Reconvening at a nearby café, the four of them had taken a table, where both Seeker and Kara relayed what they had seen, and heard, and what they planned to do, what they needed Firestorm for. It had not been long that Barry sounded ready to join them and, to his credit, Eobard had not been far behind. They could see he understood the potential dangers this thing with the Mist water could create, and now that he knew, like the rest of them, there was just no way he would sit back and do nothing while the Waverider team and ARGUS did or didn't manage to rectify it.

"So what happens now?" Barry asked.

X

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**

Agents Sharpe and Lane had returned, though they made it known that in due time they would have to go back and collect the two speedsters they had dropped off in Haven. Until then, they had been briefed on the situation they were due to look into. The prospect of flying into Mist, and the ongoing need to look after the Flash and Kid Flash over in Haven, left Leonard Snart to consider his next step carefully. Once they went into Mist, there was no telling how long they would be there, and at the same time there was something about the existing chain of events with the message passed from Breach to Main, the involvement of the Green Arrow, and now this crossing of the speedsters that told him this just might turn into another thing they needed to keep an eye on. This left him with only one option. Half the team would have to stay behind, stay close to this Flash situation, while the rest of them went on toward Mist.

They were going to need more people than this.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	3. DAY 005 (vol 1, ch 3)

_Day 5 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 3_

 **Location:**  
 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**  
 _ **(ARGUS designation)**_

The sight of Superman and Valor flying across the city skies now bordered on the normal and accepted, though even now it hadn't lost all of its wonder. People would stop and look at them go by, sometimes they'd point, take pictures… They always had to wonder what had them going in one direction or another, if maybe there was trouble brewing, somewhere in the city. And sometimes there was, of course, most times really. But then this time was different. There _was_ trouble they were meaning to help put an end to, but it was not in their city, no. It wasn't even on their Earth.

While a lot of the time the Waverider team would set down its ship right at ARGUS headquarters, there were other times where they would set down on the outskirts of the city. The chatter around the agents was that the team leader, Leonard Snart, never wanted to forget that, while he offered his services and his ship to ARGUS, it was still very much _his_ ship and not theirs. Whether or not that was true would remain to be seen, and there had yet to come any who would put the question to Snart, so it remained little more than legend.

Superman, aka Roy Harper, had landed on his feet not far from the ship, setting down the woman he'd been escorting in flight, Detective Nyssa Raatko. His partner and the pilot of their mission, Valor, aka Rory Regan, landed at their side. They started to walk in the direction of the ship, the hatch opening to greet their expected visit. They were not greeted by Leonard Snart himself here, but rather Ralph Dibny, one of the breachers out of War Quarter who was part of their team. He shook all three of their hands and thanked them for joining them before leading them into the ship proper. As it turned out, part of the crew had already sailed off to Haven on the jump ship, to deal with another issue, which was why, as they were about to find out, the first order of business, now that the three of them had arrived, was to see if they might strengthen their numbers even more. The Waverider team already had some names in mind, though they would welcome any other names the two aliens and the detective might want to bring to the table.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, DARK QUARTER**

As the ship passed through the Breach, taking them from Main Earth to the Dark, it very nearly felt like they had blinked, their eyes closing on the day and opening again on the night. The only light they saw now, beyond their ship, were the stars in the skies, and the fires dotting the city below. They were all gathered on the bridge, all of them currently assembled for this mission. The remaining team members from the Waverider who hadn't gone with the jump ship, presently Winn Schott, Slade Wilson, Rip Hunter, Gideon, M'gann M'orzz, and Ralph Dibny were joined by their three visitors, who now beheld the sight of this new place unfolding before them.

"So it's night here…" Rory remarked.

"It's always night here," Nyssa told him. "This is Dark Quarter, isn't it?" She had never been here, but she'd met plenty of its citizens, after they'd escaped her Earth. "Why here?"

"There's someone I met here once," M'gann explained, stepping forward. "I'm hoping he might be able to assist us."

The ship had gone down cloaked, not wanting to cause a scene, which, considering that the light coming off the Waverider would have been as glaring as anything in a quarter like this, would have been almost guaranteed otherwise. When M'gann had escorted the breacher down a few months ago, they'd flown the jump ship down to the ledge outside the cave where he lived. This time, the ship had been set down as close to but still some distance away from the bottom of the mountain. She had set out on her own, knowing there was much better chance of her going by unnoticed, especially as she had the ability to change her shape as required. Winding her way up to the cave, she eventually came to find him, sitting almost as though he had been expecting her. He looked at her, still wearing the semblance of a green like her, though she knew – and he knew that she knew – that this was not his true shape, and he seemed glad to see her.

"I sensed the arrival of your ship," he announced. "I felt it in the air. It is good to see you again, M'gann M'orzz."

"As it is good to see you, J'onn J'onzz. I need your help." The man stood.

"You'll have it."

X

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**

The next jump the Waverider made hardly felt like a jump, more like a smooth step, or a skip, from one page to another, so long as you knew were the small slit in the page was, that you might slip through it and land on the next. And once they had slipped, it felt like they were still where they'd been, only someone had turned the lights back on, and maybe rearranged some of the elements below, but otherwise it was very much part of the same story. Unlike in Dark, here the presence of the Waverider in the sky might not have raised so many flags, but they maintained the cloak anyway. Again, they were only passing through in search of a friend. When asked about this friend, they gave her story as they knew it.

Everyone called her Mag, everyone who got to know her and got to call her friend or ally. And those who didn't know her directly, who dealt with her in writing or over the phone, knew her as Maggie Sawyer. Had they seen her in person, had they seen her face, they would have realized there was a very strong possibility that this was an alias. The ridges across her nose and cheeks and forehead plainly showed her for having come from somewhere far from Earth, Main or Breach.

When the Waverider team had first met her, it had been in the middle of a situation they rarely saw or dealt with, someone who had crossed the breach, sure, but away from Main Earth rather than toward it. She had found herself in Haven, where she might have been left to struggle at orienting herself, had she not been so quickly discovered by a pair who had taken it upon themselves to provide for the young woman, and so they had let her be. All they knew beyond this was that she had come to (Main) Earth first to escape the circumstances of her home world, only to then find herself in need of a new escape. And when she'd come by a way of crossing on to Breach Earth, she had taken her chance there. It had paid off. Now Haven was her home, and for the times they had run into her since then, they knew how she thrived in it.

She wasn't the only one like herself in Haven. There were other aliens there, and she saw herself their protector. Anyone would have thought twice messing with any of them if they knew the fury that would rain down on them. Mag herself would say she had something of a temper, though she kept it in check with her friends.

Whether or not the team could be seen as being her friend was debatable. They didn't always agree, but they could usually count on one another when needed, and for that they continued to interact.

It fell to Rip and Gideon to go and find her, to ask her to join them. Past encounters had shown her particularly responsive to the two of them. It could have been little more than that she liked them as people, though there was also a thought that, while their wings could easily be unseen by most people, there were those instances when they would spring from their backs suddenly and unexpectedly, triggered by some situation or another, and in those times, it could be that, when people saw them, they would be observed with recoil and doubt, much as Mag would be now and again, when people saw her face.

Looking at the two of them, it was still there in him that he had been a soldier back in War Quarter, though so much had happened since those days before Project Horus had recruited him. But her… There was still no understanding what had gone wrong during her treatment, but they could certainly see the result of it. She'd come away from it with a blank slate, nothing left of her past existence except to know that she had been a soldier, too, of course, recruited into the project, and that her surname was Gideon. No first name, no history. And most times it didn't even seem to bother her, like she didn't see that there was something missing. It also made that, as far as she knew, she had always had these wings, that they'd always been a part of her… small favor that she couldn't remember the pain of the transformation like he did.

But he looked out for her. There was this feeling in him, this bond. He needed to look after her… and as time had gone on, it became clear she felt the same for him. It was almost a guarantee that wherever one went the other would follow.

"I see her, Rip," she'd pointed her finger, and he'd carefully pulled her arm back down. There was something so direct about her sometimes, and for how much that might help her in situations where they had to leap into action, wings and all, in order times it just felt as though she didn't understand how to be covert anymore.

They had approached Mag as she emerged from her home. She wasn't of a mind to hide who she was, what she was, for the most part, but here she'd keep her head down, dark hair shading her face along with the brim of her hat and her sunglasses. No sense in getting her neighbors all riled up and putting herself at risk, was there? They had told her about their impending journey into Mist and why they were going, and they asked if she might join them. They could see her hesitate at first, but then she'd agreed. There was no telling what thought had changed her mind, but there'd be time enough to ask later. They needed to get back to the ship.

X

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

Even as the team aboard the Waverider was busying itself gaining numbers, Seeker and Kara were looking for maybe one or two more others to bring along with the Firestorm duo when they would go seeking the ARGUS-bound team and tell them they intended to assist in this situation with the Mist water. There was no saying how this proclamation would be received, but if they all had any sense at all about them, they'd recognize valuable assistance when they saw it. They might have considered calling in Barry and Eobard's closest allies, their own team, but the two of them had thought it better to leave the rest of them behind for the time being, especially if they ended up in Mist, for who knew how long. Someone had to still be here in case they were needed, right?

So instead they had offered up a few other acquaintances who might have come in handy with this particular predicament. This had first taken them to a local bar. Behind the counter, doing what looked to be inventory before they opened for the day, was a man that Barry introduced to the two women as Mike Matthews. At first impression, it was hard to figure out how to describe him. There was something that felt sort of distinguished, like he'd been raised with manners and with rules, he was here now, and it came off like he shouldn't belong in this setting but somehow did. Like Firestorm before him, he had been quick to convince to drop everything and go, though Kara and Seeker both caught to his feeling for something in his pocket before he would go with them, and they had to wonder what it was about.

After the bar, now five together, they made one more stop, at a garage. All they could hear coming along were the sounds of someone doing some noisy work underneath a car. Barry had somehow managed to get the mechanic's attention, and he had wheeled out and into view, briefly startling to find all of them staring at him, before zeroing in on one face among them.

"Kara?" he blinked.

"Jax!" she was just as shocked. Barry looked back at her.

"You two know each other?" he asked, as Jax got to his feet and approached the group.

"I used to see her whenever I'd head out to visit Stein Labs at first, but then she was gone, and all the doc would say was that she'd gone home. I didn't realize that was here, you never said," he turned to her again.

"Well, it's not, it's Haven, but that's a long story, I…" She hadn't expected to be so affected to see someone from the days before she'd become Kara Danvers again. Jefferson Jackson was a meta like her, and if not for Seeker, he might have been her ticket home when she'd left War… and none of them might have been here today to get involved in this Mist/War problem. "We need your help."

X

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**

Before the ship had gone mounting back into the sky, making for the breach that would take them back to Main Earth, Mag had asked if they might get in touch with an acquaintance. Though in great part she wanted to bring this person for the skills she'd bring, both physically and mentally, an additional reason had to do with the fact that, sooner or later, they would be going to War Quarter, and she knew for a fact that this associate of hers wanted to go there, to see it. She needed to see it, because her little sister had been thrown to live there for many years, and it felt like maybe it would help her understand some things about the person she'd grown into.

That was how Alexandra Danvers had come to be the latest recruit into the journey for Mist. For what the others had learned before and after going to meet and collect her, Miss Danvers had been formed by the tragic loss of both her father and younger sister some years ago. At some time it had taken her on a journey far from home, and while she wouldn't go into the specifics of what had happened when she'd gone, she had left from home after high school, only to return some time later and, unbeknownst to her mother and most everyone else, she had acquired some skills which she'd taken to use, since her return home, to help people in trouble, young women in particularly, maybe in memory of the young sister she'd lost. She'd come to be known as the White Canary.

A couple years back, her sister had miraculously been returned to her. It seemed she had found herself in another quarter, in War, and hadn't been dead at all. Alexandra might have hung up the mantle she'd held in her sister's memory, but instead she'd maintained it, and now… now if she could help innocents in War, then that was what she wanted to do.

Before they could sail on toward Mist to start looking into this matter with the water, they had flown back through the breach and on to Main Earth. For one, preparations were not quite completed yet, and had to account for the additional equipment for their recruits. And then, they had been called on to take up a couple more ARGUS agents with them, seeing as two of their three had gone off with the jump ship team, while the third would be tasked with remaining on the ship at all times. That was how they found themselves welcoming Rene Ramirez and Patty Spivot. The first, from what they'd been told, had been one of those who, along with Detective Raatko, had first encountered the exchange of water between the Mist girls and the War women, and had requested personally to be involved. Then there was Agent Spivot, formerly of the army before ARGUS. She already had ties to the Waverider team, acting as their liaison with headquarters. Leonard Snart called her the babysitter.

"Are we ready to take off?" Dibny turned to Agent Schott, who'd just walked back on to the bridge. He hesitated. "Winn?"

"There's a, uh… a bit of a situation outside you might want to, uh…" he gestured awkwardly, leading their interim leader through the ship until he could step out and see for himself.

Standing a few feet from the ship as though they'd been told to stand there and wait, there stood six people. Some were known to them, some less so. Before Dibny could ask what this was about, one of the two women stepped forward and told it plainly. _Seeker._ They knew about the Mist water, and they knew what ARGUS believed it'd be used for. And they were here to help them stop it.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	4. DAY 007 (vol 1, ch 4)

_Day 7 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 4_

 **Location:**  
 ** _THE TIME SHIP WAVERIDER  
_ _(GRANT INNOVATIONS designation)  
_ THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

How these six had come to be aware of their mission, Ralph Dibny couldn't say. He and his team were very familiar with some of them, less so or not at all with others. The best he could tell himself was that, for what he did know of them, they were tried and true allies, Seeker most of all, and if they vouched for the others, then maybe he could, too. And then there was the biggest check in their column: for what little they knew of the Mist/War situation, what they did know told him this could easily turn into an 'all hands on deck' sort of thing, so how could he turn away help that came knocking at their door and offered itself.

"Right," he breathed out, stepping aside to let them climb aboard. As he and Winn escorted them along, he looked at who Seeker had brought them. Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne, Firestorm… Next to Seeker, the most familiar, and like her the only ones of the six who had previously set foot on the ship, which was plain to see when they looked to the others, presently taking in their surroundings with great curiosity. Mike Matthews, the Atom, he had encountered twice before, same for Jefferson Jackson, Vibe. The other woman was the only stranger, and it was as they walked along that Seeker made the introductions.

"Ralph Dibny, Winn Schott, this is Kara Danvers, now of Haven, previously of War like myself." At the mention of her name, of her surname in particular, the two men had a beat of surprise, and then the mention of the quarters left no doubt. Winn almost said something, but Ralph shook his head at him. He wasn't sure why, but he thought it best to wait and let her see for herself. When they got to the bridge, finding the rest of their freshly enlarged group and escorting the new arrivals to join them, he didn't launch into introductions just yet, instead only clearing his throat to call the others to attention. And when he did, when they all turned around, two pairs of eyes found one another from the two ends of the bridge, stopping where they stood.

"Kara?" Alexandra Danvers spoke up first. "What… what are you doing here?"

"She doesn't know?" Seeker leaned to whisper, and Kara shook her head, and the feeling in her heart was a strange one, like the prospect of telling her the truth made her afraid.

She'd been back these last couple of years and by now… To be sure, she liked Alexandra. She might have been her favorite person in Haven, which would be normal, with their being sisters, except… Well, she didn't actually remember her from before, did she? Not like Alexandra would. She was her sister, but she couldn't say if she had felt like one, not at first, and maybe even now, or… so she'd thought. But now she had to tell her about what she'd become and she didn't want Alexandra to take it in a bad way… It was one of the strongest feelings she'd ever felt with regards to the sister she had forgotten. And her… she was here, with the rest of them… she had a suit… Why did she have a suit?

"Can we talk?" Kara spoke quietly, looking to her sister, then, "Outside might be better." So they went outside, up the same way Kara and her group had just come. Her sister was looking at her, too, and it was no wonder. She had never seen her dressed this way either. They were not unfamiliar with being strangers to one another, but this… this was something else.

"Kara…" her sister started as they were getting back to the hatch. They stopped and she turned to face her.

"I didn't tell you everything, after I got back, only because… well, I didn't know who you were back then, and you and Mom… I couldn't even call her that at first, remember?"

"I remember," Alexandra nodded.

"I knew how much it meant to you, to get your Kara back. But I wasn't her. So I tried to be more her than me, and that meant keeping some things to myself. The more time went on, I couldn't go back on what I told the both of you. I had to keep it to myself."

"Keep what to yourself?" Alexandra asked, looking at her with that look she'd get, that big sister who got her little sister back look. When she'd turn it on to her, Kara would feel it in her, that feeling like she was supposed to know more than she did. It had unnerved her so much in the beginning, but now… now it was almost reassuring. With a breath, she'd led her sister off the ship and back on land, with open air and less chance of breaking part of the ship.

Kara looked around, tried to find some target for her demonstration. With nothing but the ground at their feet for some distance, she figured it would do as well as anything. One look over her shoulder showed that her sister was well out of reach, so she went for it. She planted her feet to the ground, braced herself, and breathing in she then expelled the air from her lungs in a piercing cry that met the ground and won, leaving behind a trench in the earth, stretching in the direction of her cry. The world seemed deathly silent when she'd stop, and it always reminded her of the first time she'd let it out, with all those War kids ganging up around her. At the time, she wouldn't have guessed they'd become her friends.

She turned back to her sister, knowing she just needed to do it, or else she'd never want to turn and find what this revelation had done. Alexandra was still looking at the ground, at the trench. But now she looked back to her little sister, and she didn't look afraid, she looked… confused, curious, concerned… a little amazed.

"How… did you…" was all she knew to say, so Kara had done her best to give her the main points. There'd be time enough to tell her the rest in time. For now, she told her how after the Zetas had found her they _had_ taken her to Stein Labs, just as she'd told her before. Except now she told her how, in their efforts to treat her they had essentially unlocked this thing in her, this power. She told her how it hadn't revealed itself right away but that, once it had, she had used it to help people in War Quarter… and then how she'd continued to do it once she had returned to Haven.

"They call me Black Siren," she announced with no shortage of pride. Alexandra received this revelation with a stunned little smile.

"Siren…" she nodded. Kara knew what she must have been thinking. When she had come back, with no memory of her years before the incident which had supposedly killed her, one of the things Alexandra had so persistently tried to use to trigger some recognition had been something from their childhood, this picture they had seen as little girls, the littler one black, the bigger one white… Canaries, she'd said. When she'd heard it, minding the secret she carried, Kara almost had to laugh to herself. A lost childhood as a pretend 'Black Canary' and a soaring and genuine existence as Black Siren… And her sister… her sister dressed in white… Now Kara was the one to smile, piecing it together.

"White Canary…" she said, and Alexandra tipped her head in confirmation. Hers was another long story for another day, but she told her the important thing. She had gone in search of herself, and when she'd come back, this was what she'd become. She'd taken up the mantle in memory of her lost sister… in her honor. "You didn't tell me either," Kara pointed out.

"Guess we're even then," Alexandra agreed. Kara held up her hand between them, and Alexandra clasped it. Once as girls they had been set to take the world. Now, as women, they would.

X

Back inside the ship, as the two groups stood on the Waverider's bridge, it felt just a bit like school kids at a dance, everyone to their side at first, waiting to see if anyone would take the initiative and come find a partner on the other side. Eventually they'd all sort of moved, introductions being made here and there, which in their circles of course meant more than a name, it meant finding out if someone had any meta abilities, or any interesting piece of tech, anything that might become valuable to know in whatever they were about to face. And other names were being tossed around, too. Firestorm, the Atom, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Valor, Superman…

Mag had not been one to start socializing. She stood apart from the others, observed them a while. When she was approached by two of them, she tried ignoring them, concentrating on the rest of the room without showing them any attention, so maybe they would carry on their way and leave her be. When instead they came to stand next to her and stopped there, and stayed, and stayed, she finally turned her head and fixed them with a look that would have sent the strong of nerve turning around and moving away. Instead, they looked almost happy, and then… they greeted her. Only they did in the gesture of her people, a gesture she had not seen in a very long time. It knocked her defenses down so fast there was no collecting them again.

"How do you know about that?" she had to ask. All she knew of them was that they were called Superman and Valor and they were heroes on Main Earth. They must have come along after she'd gone off to Breach Earth, to Haven, because she didn't know them.

"We visited your world many times before," said the one they'd called Superman, also Roy. She met this reply with suspicion and he seemed to know why. "It was a long… long time ago, by your count." He explained about the team he was part of, how their ship had ended up caught in stasis for many years before finally making it to Earth. The more they said, there was little left for her to doubt, and now here she stood, with two people who had seen her world, seen it before it had become the thing she'd needed to run from… It made her want to question them for hours… It made her want to run and never talk to them…

Elsewhere on the bridge, Slade Wilson had been talking with the detective, Nyssa Raatko. She had been in contact with these Mist breachers, the ones who had made the water trade before, while he had actually been to Mist before, so for both of them the conversation was an informative one. It was interrupted as Slade couldn't help but find his attention drawn to Eobard Thawne, trailing along at his leisure, looking about the bridge. He had been here before, as had his Firestorm counterpart, Barry Allen, and always he would move about the ship like it was the most fascinating thing he had ever come across, and, for that, he needed to know everything about it that he could be allowed to know. This craft could go through the breaches. It wasn't as though it was the only way to make the crossing, but as style went, what could possibly surpass it. Imagine if he knew the thing could travel in time, too.

They were not the only ones to watch the man in his observations. Barry was watching him, too. Their connection had a way of reassuring him, telling him that if he was ever going to do or think of doing anything that just went too far then surely, he would feel it, as he had felt the urge in him to do more in the past, but he couldn't help but wonder sometimes and he wished he didn't. They were supposed to trust each other, to be Firestorm together. Did Eobard feel his hesitance, too?

"Now that doesn't look like a happy face." Barry blinked, turning his head away from Eobard to find he had been joined by Mike Matthews. "What's the matter, you and Mr. Sunny Disposition get in a fight?" he asked. While Mike was not exactly one of his regular team, he had come through for them in a pinch more times than he could count. His knock on Eobard was sort of amusing coming from him, who _could_ be called Mr. Sunny Disposition without the sarcasm attached this time. It was sort of a side effect of his having come into his own, no doubt. Raised in the lap of luxury, his parents' veritable little prince, he had grown disillusioned and landed on his feet, only to be put in possession of the suit that made him the Atom. And then he'd truly learned to smile.

" _A_ fight, no. Many fights… too many fights…" he sighed. It was going to get them in trouble someday. Or worse, it would get someone hurt… or killed…

"Do the others know?" Mike asked. The others… Amaya, Cait, Ronnie… their teammates, who he hadn't called in for this Mist mission.

"Would have been hard to keep them in the dark, the way it's been," Barry admitted. "They might not know just how bad it's gotten from time to time." A moment passed, neither speaking. "Don't mention it to anyone here, please?"

"No sweat," Mike told him, smiling.

Standing among all these people come to join them, heroes from both sides of the breach, Winn didn't know why the ones that made him most nervous were the ARGUS agents come to join them, Patty Spivot especially. They dealt with her almost day to day, and suddenly he was very aware of the woman hidden in the bowels of the ship. Patty was his friend, maybe more than most anyone from his own team, and the discovery of Catherine Grant might have been something he would have told her, excitedly so, but he couldn't… he'd promised. He had vivid nightmares of the air going out of whatever compartment he'd be standing in aboard the ship, because Cat the not so artificial intelligence didn't want him spilling the beans. She wouldn't do it for real, would she? No… no, that'd be… Well, she _had_ knocked him out before…

"So you're staying aboard when we get to Mist?" Patty asked, coming toward him, trailed by Rene Ramirez. He looked at them, hesitating for a moment.

"I, uh… asthma," he explained, gesturing about his chest. "Plus, someone's got to keep an eye on things here, in case something goes sideways."

"Need a hand with that?" Rene asked. "Not exactly looking forward to breathing that stuff in, hear it really never goes away, and with Zoe…" he went on.

"You'll have to ask Ralph," Winn told him, indicating the man and hoping he _would_ go and ask Ralph… like right now, and maybe take Patty with him. Now he was imagining Miss Grant, down in her hidden rooms, watching them on monitors, watching him. "I need to run some final preparations before we head off to Mist," he told the other agents, promising he wouldn't need their assistance when they offered it and then moving away from the bridge. Patty and Rene looked to each other, shrugging it off.

Whether they'd approach Ralph and inquire about who would step down on to Mist or stay on the ship or not, now might have been as good of a time as any to ask. For now, he stood back, watching as his 'recruits' talked amongst themselves, waiting for the time they would sail off, flanked by the pair of his permanent roster of teammates the rest of them would call the Hawks. Once upon a time he had chased the two, back when they were all still in War, intending to return the fugitive soldiers and gaining some much-needed credit back on his record. Now he would fight by their side any day, would put his life on the line for them, as they would for him.

Right now, he knew they were just as anxious to get going as he was, as Slade would be. War had been their home. They had joined its forces, to defend it, all on that same wild hope that someday others wouldn't have to fight anymore, and now this Mist water thing had them fearing that, should it all come to pass, that wild hope would be extinguished for good, and then there'd be no one to stand in the way of those they'd been fighting against all this time.

Elsewhere, Jax had been getting to know some of those he had not met before, to get to know further the ones he only knew in passing. One of them, he admitted, had him somewhere between intrigued and spooked. The one they called Seeker. He knew, from hearing the others talk, that she had an ability not unlike his own, and that was intriguing for sure, except he could see her staring at him from time to time, like she was curious, too, and it only made him tip further on the side of spooked. That stare of hers looked like it could cut right through him, like she was looking at him as a walking, talking breach. She didn't make them, like he did, but she could find the weak points, the existing breaches.

When at last she had come to him, and, giving no mind to how he wouldn't quite meet her eye, she'd started talking with him, he had slowly but surely calmed down enough that they actually got to talking. Before long, the two of them had been swapping tales of their crossings, of their given abilities. Seeker had told him how she had come to believe that the breaches she could find, the weak points, might have been the sites of past crossings, like the bridge between their Earths, between the quarters, could never completely close again, and that was what she saw. It was an intriguing possibility, and he might just have been willing to test the theory out with her. Without his realizing, the spook had gone all out of her. She was just someone, like him, with the kind of key so many out there would have killed to get their hands on. If that didn't bind them in friendship, what would?

As soon as she had helped retrieve J'onn J'onzz from Dark Quarter, M'gann had been wanting to show him something, and finally as they all stood about the bridge she was able to do it. She showed him a handful of printed photos, and when he held them in his hands, his green face seemed to relax into the most eased of smiles. The two of them had met after he had helped a friend of his cross on to Main Earth, a woman seeking to escape a mean-handed husband before her child might be born into their home. He had succeeded in getting her here, though he had chosen to return to the place he had made his home. But now here, in the photographs, he found his friend, not so pale as she had been upon crossing, holding a small babe of a boy.

"He's called Johnny," M'gann told him, and the smile brightened.

"May I hold on to these?" he asked, and she nodded, smiling back.

When the Danvers sisters had returned from their conversation outside the ship, Ralph had found Winn, getting confirmation that, for better or for worse, they were as ready as they would be to make the crossing into Mist. The wait was over, and once he had briefed his gathered team on procedures for heading on to the surface, they would be sailing for the breach.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	5. DAY 009 (vol 1, ch 5)

_Day 9 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 5_

 **Location:**  
 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**  
 _ **(ARGUS designation)**_

 **HOME OF WALLACE WEST**

The man had stood across the street from the tall apartment complex for a few minutes now, waiting. Per the information he'd been given, he might manage to catch Wallace West heading out to work around this time, which would save him having to introduce himself into the building to get to him. But time was ticking onward still, and there was no sign of him. He could be running late, but then the man didn't think it would help any of them at this point to let things go on much longer, so with a sigh he had crossed the street and rung for him. A minute went by. He rang again.

An old woman came by him, lugging a shopping bag and leading a small dog on a leash. She looked the man up and down with the suspicion of a nosey neighbor. The man gave her a dismissive nod of greeting without saying a word. She went in, and he might have used this to get into the building, holding the door for her, or sticking his foot in before it shut completely. But the old woman made a show of making sure the door shut after her, meeting his eyes afterward as though saying 'so there.'

"Charming," he groaned to himself, ringing for West again. By now, the young Wallace would have had three rings and just as many minutes to hear and respond, which meant one of two things, either he wasn't there or he was really hard of hearing. Well, three things. Maybe he just chose not to answer. If not for due diligence and all of that, the man might have turned and left, but it was about more than due diligence, wasn't it?

So he'd found his way into the building, a minute later when this time another person coming from the building had held the door for him and he'd gone through with a tip of the head and thanks. He went up to Wallace West's floor, to his door, and knocked. When still no response came, he had pulled a small device from his pocket, swept it slowly before the door and the general area of the apartment. It told him there was no one inside. Well now his day had just gotten longer. He made his way back on to the street and held a finger to his ear.

"He's not home," he reported. "What do you want me to do now? Where's his job?"

X

Wallace West wasn't specifically skipping out on work, no. True, he was meant to be heading there now, and he still would go, later, but he would be late, possibly very late. But it would be worth it, wouldn't it? Yes, he wasn't letting anyone know where he was headed, but it did have to do with work. If he pulled this off, and he has enough confidence in himself and his skills to believe that be would be successful, then it would mean another step to get him up the chain, would mean another step to his having his own company someday… On that day, he would buy out his bosses…

Some would say he had gotten that attitude from his father. He probably had, although he couldn't say he much cared for having his drive for success associated with the man whose name he held. If what he had _did_ come from his father, Wallace had been determined to use it in a whole other way. His way would benefit the world, not harm it.

He had done his research, he had his whole approach figured out, and if he played his cards right – which he usually did – then he would come out of this with exactly what he'd hoped to get… if not more. Walking through the door, he felt like he had superpowers.

Down a long corridor he went, on to an elevator. He pressed for the 17th floor and waited, watching the lights match each 'ding' of a new floor met while listening to the soft elevator music. They got to the 12th floor before the elevator jolted to a stop. The system gave a feeble sound, a crackle of electricity, before the panel lights went out, and then the interior lights as well, pitching him in the dark and total stillness. He was not claustrophobic, on the plus side, although he did feel slightly ill at ease for a moment. He reached out his hands, feeling for the panel, trying to remember where exactly the help buttons would have been.

He pressed more than one, for good measure, but all he got in return was the sound of a button being pushed and released, no actual sound of response, like clicking something that wasn't plugged in. Right now the best he could do was to rest on the fact that at least the elevator was not plummeting down the shaft. He was still somewhere about the 12th floor.

He reached into his pocket for his phone. He felt for the home key, but pressing it gave him nothing more than the elevator's buttons did, even though the thing had been fully charged when he'd left home earlier. In his head he had been telling himself to keep it together no matter what, but right now he was starting to teeter on the edge of not so calm as he'd once been. And then he heard a rattle from above.

"Hello?" he called out. "Is someone there?" A great wrenching sound from just over his head made him startle and duck against the wall, looking up as a faint light showed him someone had pulled the top of the elevator car open. "Hey, can you get me out of here?" he asked. He could just about make out a shape, a person… a girl? "I can't see you, do you have a light?"

"I don't know," the girl spoke. A crackling burst of blue tendrilled electricity wrapped itself about her hand, illuminating her face. "Does this help?" she asked, in a tone that seemed about as helpful as it was rough, which was not at all. "I probably shouldn't shock you, even though it is a little fun," she seemed to be reasoning with herself. "So I may have to hand you over to my friend here," she girl stepped back, as another dropped in from the opening, landing on her feet and fixing him with a gaze. Even as she stood from her crouch, Wallace felt something take him over, like the suspended car was a spinning top turned on its point. He shouted, tried to grip the walls.

"If you two are done playing," he vaguely heard, another girl's voice from… above, or maybe below, or… everywhere. He was barely conscious anymore. "Just grab him already, we have to go." The world had righted itself again, right before the girl in the car with him had taken one step, cranked back her arm and clocked him in the nose. He was down for the count.

X

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

 **ARGUS HEADQUARTERS**

Iris was liking this. Working here, even if she would never give up what she did back in Haven, even though there was some massive crisis unfolding all around her and people could get hurt. She got all that, and still… She felt like she was in a good place right now, and she wanted to keep going. That some of the agents were already deferring to her call was undeniably one of the perks.

Alright, so maybe she was just trying to get herself because it was either that or thinking about her father, because it was either that or worrying over her brother, and her friends…

"Miss West?" a voice called from behind her. She turned and found an agent. "I was sent to locate your brother and bring him here?" he explained, and she stood. That had been one of her requests, if not to say demands, when she had stepped in to help ARGUS. She didn't know what her father was up to, and frankly she'd rather not think about it, but there were two people she cared most about in this world, and she would have them be safe. Her brother, and the friend who was almost a brother. Him, they'd already brought, through Lyla Michaels, and Tommy was already out there, letting Guardian show the breachers back to whatever Earth they'd emerged from. But Wallace…

"Did you get him?" she asked the man.

"Unfortunately, no. I went to all the places you told us about, and he was nowhere. He didn't show up for work either." She didn't know what to say. "Is there anywhere else?" Maybe there was, but… she didn't know that she could say what they were. She knew her brother, she did, but there were times, like this one, where she wasn't sure she knew him as much as she should have.

"No," she had to tell the man. "Thank you, I… Maybe another sweep later today, or… or tomorrow." The agent bowed his head and left. Iris watched him go, asking herself where her brother had gotten off to… wondering if her father had already gotten his hands on him.

X

 **SOMEWHERE IN THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

Wallace woke with a start. His eyes burst open, like his body still held the shock of the final moments before he'd lost consciousness and was now spending the rest of it. He turned his head this way and that, trying to understand what was happening. He had moved. He wasn't… where had he been… Oh, right, the elevator… This was no elevator. The room wasn't particularly big, though it was definitely bigger than an elevator. There _were_ windows, but they were high on tall walls, well out of reach and barred. He sat up now, really took in his surroundings. He had been lying on the ground, a hard floor, tiled, maybe. Save for two faint spotlights on the ceiling, the light was very dim. Maybe for that it took him some time to realize something as puzzling as it was alarming: there was no door.

How was that even possible? How had he gotten here, how…

"Hello?" he shouted. His voice echoed against the walls. Nothing else. He took a deep breath, and this time he screamed. "Hello? Is anyone there? Let me out of here!" He wasn't going to lose his cool, was he? No, if he did that, he would be stuck here forever, but then again… No doors… no way out… the windows, so far away… Was he having trouble breathing? So maybe he _could_ panic a little.

X

As constructions went, this one had been impressive, to say the least. It wasn't their doing, no. _Their_ job had nothing to do with the holding, only the retrieving, and here they'd shown themselves more than adept and well worth the trust put in them when they had been recruited and assembled into this little team of theirs.

All three of them had been pulled from Breach Earth, although each of them from a different quarter, which had left them strangers up until not too long ago.

From Haven was recruited Jesse Wells, though she had taken to the name Livewire. Looking at her, the shock white hair, the pale skin, it did sort of look like she had been electrocuted, when in fact one could say she _was_ electricity. She was so much more, of course, whether she'd go into details or not. For one, they thought her human, metahuman, and she was not. Meta, yes, she supposed, though she had never been human. She had been brought to Earth as a child by her father, as he'd been scouring the stars for some place that might be able to cure her of the illness which kept her cozied up to death's door. And then they'd come to Earth and come into contact with a man called Harrison Wells. For years they had thought he had cured her, but then these powers had come, and then they'd known… He had saved her, yes, but he'd done it by turning her into this. In time, the power coursing through her had made her into so much more. The life she led now felt pretty good to her, she had to say.

And then they'd also pulled Lyra Star, originally from Dark but relocated to Haven, she who had turned Wallace West's world upside down… at least for him. For that, they called her Top. They would not have known her for the person she'd become, not back where she had been born. It wasn't as though metas were unknown in Dark, or that they were seen as being bad on principle. But her mother… Her mother had seen her powers as something just wrong, unforgiveable. Maybe it was to be expected. It was just the two of them since her father and brother had died, and so when the powers began to emerge, the powers that did not affect _her_ , her mother was the one left to suffer for them, wasn't she? Lyra had not done it on purpose, had she?

But the more her mother treated her like a demon, the more she'd thought… well, maybe she was. Even so, there was something in her that wanted to get out of there, and it had been her powers that gave her that way out. The way she could turn the world around, somehow, it helped her see the breaks in the world, like they couldn't quite be accounted for as the world twisted around her. And then she'd found her way to Haven one day, into the light, and from there… Top had been born.

The last of them, the only one who seemed in any way likely to hold some kind of leadership over the trio, was Lily Stein, and to no wonder, when she had been born to War Quarter. She had never needed to brand herself as leader, nor did she see herself as such. But every group counting more than two people, it seemed, needed someone who would make the call, and in their trio Lily was it. They called her Mirror Mistress, and if Wallace West had any sort of inkling of who she was or what she could do, he might have known _one_ way to enter the doorless room which currently held him. It wasn't the only one, but it was there, and she appreciated that it was, for its inclusion as much as her understanding of it. But then she was a scientist, had been raised by one.

Her father, Doctor Martin Stein, was the creator and director of Stein Labs. She had grown up at his side, learning, working. It was following an incident one day that she'd been granted these powers she had over reflective surfaces. To her it had simply been a fascination, one she'd devoted herself to until she knew all there was to know about it, the better to find both strengths and weaknesses. It had divided her from her father in the end, but she showed no bit of regret.

Between the three of them, finding, trapping, and capturing Wallace West had been a breeze. The trick was that no one knew to even worry that something might have happened to him. And, from what they had seen of him in devising their plan, they could probably have gone at him with less of a flourish. He had mostly his father and sister, and the relationship lacked plenty. Of course, just because they didn't _need_ to do something didn't mean they wouldn't, not when it was this fun. Their mark had been penned into this special room, and that was great. Of course now they were itching to know what they might do next. For that, they would have to ask the man who was looking in on young Wallace just as they were, if with something of a more intense look.

He had come from Breach Earth, same as they'd done, although the quarter _he'd_ come from was not one of theirs. It had taken some time, and some debating between the three of them before they had figured out which one, because he certainly didn't look eager to share. The technology alone however, once they could see it as being tech, had put them on to the possibility that he had come to them from the equivalent of a legend among off-world breachers. A quarter, time displaced, a distant future existing side by side with their present, the one acknowledged by any other breachers they'd ever known.

That was where he had to be from, their magic man. Vandal Savage was his name, and it was through him that Lily, Jesse, and Lyra had become a team, one of two he had brought into his endeavors, although as far as the girls were concerned, they couldn't see the merit of the two men out of Haven. Now the three of them, Mirror Mistress, Livewire, Top… they had powers, and brains, and efficiency. What did they have? A couple of guns, even if they shot fire and ice. Vandal would have to see in time. He didn't need Heywood and Palmer, not when he had Stein, Wells, and Star.

They knew what they needed to do, so they left Wallace West in Vandal's care, setting out to figure out what their next step would be. As to that, choices were not lacking.

Out beyond the house where they had been led to go upon their arrival on Main Earth, 'Heywood and Palmer' were just as set to the task they'd been handed as the girls had become. Being here, as yet unknown, it had potential. Depending on how this whole job panned out, it might have been the start of a whole new life for them, away from previous records, a clean slate, whether or not it would stay that way for very long.

The choice was theirs for where they might begin, Breach or Main, although now that they _had_ made the crossing, it did make exploring this other Earth enough of an incentive to stay right where they were for the time being. When the time came for them to journey on back to the quarters, they had the device which had gotten them here so smoothly, tucked away in Raymond's pocket.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	6. DAY 011 (vol 1, ch 6)

_Day 11 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 6_

 **Location:**  
 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**  
 ** _THE TIME SHIP WAVERIDER  
_ _(GRANT INNOVATIONS designation)_**

Deep below the bridge, in her hidden quarters, Catherine Grant was in the midst of some preparations of her own. Mist. Why did it have to be Mist Quarter? Now, to be sure, she had equipped this room a long time ago with just about anything someone would need to survive, living in the conditions she'd been forced to create for herself after Leonard Snart had absconded with her ship while she was still on it. It had required many an excursion while those who had settled on to the ship were either away or asleep, all the while covering her tracks so that no one would ever know she'd been there at all. It had been exhausting. Even so, as soon as she'd found out about the existence of this quarter, with its terrible air and worse water, she had gotten to feel a tiny bit of hypochondria and claustrophobia, and she had very nearly revealed her presence, rather than to be subjected to it. She had kept such an in-depth record of the air quality aboard the ship, about potential effects to the ship once they were in that place that it had enabled 'Cat' to further the Waverider's crew to figure out what needed to be done in subsequent visits to the place. And oh, curses, how there had been subsequent visits. Every one of them had left her with fits of hives she had to remind herself were caused by nothing but her own imperiled nerves.

And now… now they were heading out there, bringing many more people, recruits to the effort of putting an end to the use of the Mist water over in War Quarter. It would easily be the longest stretch of time they spent out in Mist, and if Catherine did not understand how very necessary it was, she would have been all too glad to have 'Cat' tell them she didn't recommend the journey. She could invent so very many ways for it to be warned against, each more alarming than the last. She might have rendered herself unconscious for a little while if not for that damned need to ensure her people wouldn't be left hanging if they needed her. So here she was, for better or for worse, strapped in and bracing for Mist.

Above, on the bridge, the feeling was perhaps not quite so worked up, but it wasn't so different either. The idea of going into Mist was never one met with smiles and anticipation, whether you'd been there before or not.

There were twenty of them, near twice as many as there usually was, and there weren't enough seats, which left several of them relegated to a 'hang on to something' sort of alternative. Even as the ship had taken off, all they could think about were Ralph's instructions and warnings about heading into Mist. The name almost seemed too harmless as he laid out the effects the quarter could have on them. The ship had been prepared, ensuring that it would be primed to ward off the passage of air from the outside into their vessel. The air out of Mist could give the most sophisticated system a run for its money in how insidiously it could find its way in. They could think they had the most impenetrable seals, and then, upon taking off again, scans would show the slightest lingering presence of that air in their midst. They had all been fitted with special masks, though here again a warning had to be given that it would only see to most of the air's touch, not all, even as the masks emitted an invisible shield around them that would have done as much as a full body suit could.

They had been walked through the effects they might feel as they crossed into Mist, then as they stepped off the ship. They were instructed never to disactivate or remove their masks for the duration of their time in Mist, unless they were there so long that they'd need to eat or drink, and if that was the case then of course they'd have to do it either back on the ship or in a building where they could be guaranteed the seals were in full effect, preferably at the ARGUS outpost. They were told about the bodies of water, which were gated and padlocked away, to protect anyone going near them, to prevent any incidents as there had been in the past. Though this only went so far, clearly, if the citizens of Mist were able to get hold of some water to see to their settlement on to Main Earth by carrying it across the breach. Then again, they didn't always need to try and get bottles of it from the gated lake… there was the rain. Ralph had warned the newcomers. The water that came from the skies was just as bad as the one already in the ground, and if it started, it would be best to run for cover. The more they'd heard, it left those of them who'd previously tangled with Mist breachers running on to Main Earth to feel like maybe they should have helped them more than sent them back, no matter what they did. No one deserved this…

The Waverider sailed over the city, and as they made for the breach, its passengers, in vast majority, unconsciously held their breaths.

Blue skies had surrendered to skies that might have been blue if they didn't look so sickly, lifeless, and seeing this served to set the mood aboard the Waverider as one of absolute dread before they could see anything more. And then they did see more. They saw the gates at once, impossible to miss where they stood. They saw a permeating lack of something and they couldn't quite put their finger on it at first, but just as soon it hit them… green… they couldn't see any green… No trees, no plant life, no gardens or parks… There was the ground… dust and earth. There were the buildings… gray, muted. And there were the people… so few of them walking about, looking like gatherings of cloth moving about as they attempted to keep themselves as covered as possible, but then the few faces they saw, turned up to take in the arriving ship, wore masks, too, and even from a distance it seemed like their eyes were a little dead. Those who were seeing it all for the first time felt, each one of them, an immediate rise of goosebumps, of heartrate, and those who had been there weren't entirely spared from this either.

Kara looked down to her wrist, to the band wrapped around it which, connected to her mask, gave her readings as to her surroundings. If her exposure got anywhere close to problem levels, she would feel a vibration against her arm, would see a warning flashing on the band. So far, no warnings, but the readings had changed already, like they'd gone from idle to active now that they were in Mist even if they were still on the ship. She turned her head to see Alexandra was doing the same thing, and so were many of the others, including Seeker.

"Didn't have gear like that when I first came here," she told Kara. "Was sick for weeks by the time I got out again."

The ship gave a rumble as it touched down, and then it sat still. The passengers were very still themselves. They knew what they'd come to do, but it did feel like none of them knew to do next now that they'd arrived. When Ralph got up from the pilot's seat, the others looked at him, awaiting his word.

"We need to check in with the outpost, but they won't know what the people will know. We'll need to speak with them, too. Now, they won't all be willing to talk to you, so be ready for that. Some will take convincing, others will shut you out completely so just… leave them be." He paused for a moment. "Some cope better with the conditions than others do. Some would give or do anything to get away, especially once they know that there are other places, places not like Mist. Be on your guard against attack and remember… as much as we would like to help them all, it is not in our power to do it." Two warnings, but both of them boiling down to one statement: don't get too close, physically or emotionally.

All of them were set to disembark, save for Winn, who was to stay on the ship and look after things from there, and so they moved to the airlock, met here with more instructions before one door could close and another open out before them. They could not smell the air that soon mingled in from outside, not really, but then they sort of did. Were they really smelling it or were they just imagining it, generated by so many instructions and warnings and the press of the masks that covered half their faces? Did it really feel heavy on them or was it all in their heads?

"Alright, boys and girls, this is your soundcheck, can you all hear me?" Winn's voice was in all their ears, and one by one they confirmed that yes, they could hear him. "Excellent, then proceed and… well, you already know," he added, rather than rattling off any further instructions that would only serve to spook them more than necessary. After he'd gotten off the comms though, he had a sudden thought, one he hadn't had until then, and he tore off at a run, heading down, down into the ship, until he reached the hidden space and tapped on the wall. "Miss Grant? You alright in there?" he shouted.

"No need to shout, Agent Schott," her voice came over speakers, and he startled, so used to hearing her this way but now having to remind himself she was an actual person talking to him.

"You got a mask in there?" he asked.

"I have everything I need, this isn't my first time sitting out you all flying my ship into this place. Now I suggest you get back to your post. I'd rather not be stuck here any longer than I have to be just because you were down here, fretting after me." He stood there, blinking for a moment before nodding and heading back to the bridge.

X

The air felt like dread, at once invisible and heavy on them, like deep humidity on a hot day even though it really wasn't humid at all. There was a light breeze, more taunting for what it carried than in any way peaceful. They hadn't come down cloaked, and now those people who were out and about were either scurrying for home or they stood and looked at them. There had been two reasons for coming to the surface like this. For one, the cloak would have put additional strain on them that they really couldn't have, not with the needs of their being in Mist. And for the other, they were coming here for information, for assistance, so if they people saw them, knowing who they were and what they did, they might luck out and find people willing to tell them what they needed to know. Then again… if this had been going on as long as it had, then they had been through here several times and no one had told them then, so why would they suddenly change their minds now?

"M'gann, Rip, Gideon, Slade, Patty, Rene and I will head to the outpost," Ralph addressed his group. "The rest of you…"

"You just took a lot of effort telling us how dangerous this place could be, and you're sending a bunch of people who have never been here out on their own, not knowing where is safe, where isn't?" Kara asked, cutting him off before giving him pause.

"I'll lead a group," Slade volunteered, soon joined by M'gann and Seeker.

"Right, sorry," Ralph nodded, and they dispersed, the rest of his initial lineup heading for the outpost, while the three group leaders split the rest of their team amongst themselves and headed into the city. Slade led Mag, Roy, and Rory one way. M'gann went with J'onn, Nyssa, Mike, and Jax. And Seeker guided Kara, Alexandra, Barry, and Eobard.

As they went, as they walked the streets of Mist, the feeling of this place, for so long little more than a story they'd heard at one time or another and suddenly very real and all around them… It felt like everything in them wanted to get out. They saw this place, this world that just didn't exist for being… enjoyed, for being nice to look at. This was a place you just sort of happened into, where you then had nothing better to do than to try and keep living… for some reason. They saw the people, and it was hard to see how any part of their lives would have nothing to do with this place they lived in. Maybe that wouldn't be true… hopefully…

What little they saw of faces, it was worse than it had been from a distance. A tenseness in the brow, a void in the eyes, and then a mask. Some of the faces showed scars, not from some injury or another but more like… like… like they'd been ill and now were left with these marks. Some of them seemed to have scars upon scars… multiple illnesses, dotting their lives. But they were still alive, they were still here. Survivors…

The worst was to see the children. They almost didn't feel like children. There was no running around, no laughter and discovery. They would walk along with their parents like they'd been drilled on the fact that they needed to keep up, always keep up, never wander off, because no one would ever stay out of doors any longer than they needed to be. Some of them looked weak, ill. Some would have to be carried by their parent, this in itself being an additional burden on an adult already weakened. _Don't get too close._

The four groups as they dispersed, toward the outpost, toward the city, could not be ignored. They didn't belong like they belonged here, all of them walking with the strength they carried, not having lived here as others had. No one would come here unless they had to, and it made it that much more understandable why the people of War had been getting the people of Mist to bring the water to them rather than to go and get it for themselves. They wouldn't bother crossing into Mist either, no matter what their plans were.

They weren't all ARGUS, very few of them were, but the masks were ARGUS issued, which was as good as wearing the uniform where the people of Mist were concerned, and that decided how they responded to their approach. To run or to stay, to talk or to refuse to talk.

Every so often, a freshly acquired reflex saw them checking the band at their wrists. It was initially startling to notice how the readings had changed so dramatically in the five minutes since they'd stepped off the ship, though they were still far from being in trouble. As they'd been told when they'd received their masks, this would be considered base level, the effects of being in Mist, despite their personal shields. All of them had agreed to help stop the Mist water from being used as a weapon, solely on the basis that it was the right thing to do, but now… now they had seen all this, felt it, and the idea of how much worse it could get… They couldn't let it happen.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	7. DAY 013 (vol 1, ch 7)

_Day 13 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 7_

 **Location:**  
 **BREACH EARTH, MIST QUARTER**  
 _ **(ARGUS designation)**_

 **ARGUS OUTPOST**

Each known quarter of the Breach Earth had its own outpost, to enable ARGUS to keep an eye on the matters of this Earth which for all intents and purposes hung over their heads back on their own Earth. The city beneath the breach was known by that name, to them at least, because this was the lone point of crossing, like a hole punched in between that somehow got them from ground to ground. How they managed to reach one quarter over another was not readily understandable, and yet somehow they did… most times. Of course, that wasn't the only way, was it? There were metals, like Seeker, like Had, who could find the way, or make the way. And then others had created technology that helped them through. And there was the Waverider.

As for the outposts, and ARGUS getting their agents posted in every quarter, that had been thanks to a breacher, though hardly anyone knew. Born out of the place designated Future Quarter, for self-explanatory reasons, he had found his way on to Main Earth quite unexpectedly, and he had been discovered and cared for by ARGUS. They'd had no way of sending him back, but that was alright: he could create it himself. And after he'd done it, his parting gift had been to leave behind the blueprints.. Within a year, the outposts had popped up across Breach Earth, and the presence of ARGUS became a fact of all their lives.

The outpost in Mist, high above all others except maybe War – not so far below – was the least sought after posting an agent could get. 'Behave or you'll be choking in Mist' was a common warning. The building may have had the most sophisticated mechanisms for keeping out the poisoning air, and a regularly replenished supply of fresh water, but it was as Ralph had told his expanded team: nowhere was completely safe, no matter how small the percentage in between. All the outposts had been constructed using the same plans, cementing the claim here that 'if you've seen one, you've seen them all.'

Then again, each quarter did have its peculiarities, and as the years would pass, it would show in the outposts. The one in War had survived a number of attacks and looked it, the one in Dark showed no lights that might be seen from the outside other than fire, out of respect, and the one in Mist… somehow managed to look as sickly as its people. On the inside it was different, to a point. There was all the equipment required to ward off the bad air, or to accommodate its downtrodden company of agents.

The Waverider's crew had walked into this outpost many times over the years, and it was no better now than it had been before. Ralph, Rip, Gideon, Patty and Rene were identified as ARGUS at the gate, making it so that by the time they neared the steps and the outer door, the agents on the inside were already in place for the decontamination procedure. It would be a few minutes more before they could be led in and escorted to the director of the Mist outpost.

The agents in Mist tended to fall into one of two categories when a new situation fell into their laps. Some would welcome the chance to do something, _anything_ of importance, with overwhelming readiness. And then some would not be satisfied, regardless of the task, because unless it meant they would be transferred out of Mist then it wasn't really worth all that much. The director could be said to fall in both categories… depending on the day. And today, by chance, fell in the readiness category.

"Ah, Miss Spivot, Mr. Ramirez, it's good to see you in person for once. Not that the screen doesn't do you justice," he'd shaken the two agents' hands. "What can I do for you today?" he asked, looking to the five now standing in his office, indicating that they should sit across from his desk. There were three chairs, so Ralph sat, along with the two agents, leaving their Hawks to stand behind them.

"Director, we need to discuss a certain matter that's come up, one that involves Mist but could have repercussions in one quarter and potentially more," Ralph started, and the director stared at him, caught halfway between anxious and apprehensive. "It seems some of the people in this quarter have been incited to buy their freedom away from here in exchange with handing over some of the contaminated water. Have you ever heard about something like that?" The man looked baffled.

"No, I'm afraid I haven't, but… why would anyone even want any of that…"

"The 'anyone' in this case would be citizens of War Quarter, who intend to use it as a weapon," Patty informed him. Now the director sank into his chair, a wave of the frustration over being posted in Mist coming across his face.

"We came here today hoping to gain some information," Ralph told him.

"Yes… Yes, of course, whatever you need," the director waved dismissively.

X

 **IN THE CITY**

M'gann had seen this place too many times. The dread was almost a tangible thing, and she felt it deep in her bones. It made her think of home, of the place before Earth. When she had come to Main Earth, when she had found herself in Zambesi… it was like paradise. She had been welcomed into that paradise, in time had grown to be entrusted in protecting it, with the totem now clasped around her neck. But a place like this… it tapped into a corner of her heart and mind she would sooner have kept locked away, that it would never hurt her again. She couldn't, and so it would just continue to be there.

Walking together with J'onn, and Nyssa, Mike, and Jax, she tried to explain to them as best she could the way people lived here in Mist. They had been left to make their lives with what they could. Their food stocks had no chance to be protected, not entirely. The water was no good, neither was the air, so what chance did they have for growing anything? And the animals… what were they going to feed the animals that wasn't as contaminated?

But then there had been creators among them. And along with finding some way to create some very decent protection from the air inside their homes and other buildings, they had found ways to feed their people in ways that wouldn't leave them as sick as before, where living into adulthood could be something of a stroke of luck, if luck could even be counted as the word. They had found ways to salvage rain water about as well as they'd protected the air in their homes – not completely but well enough to live. No one in Mist would ever be said to live in opulence, or to eat until they were full, but they worked hard for the little they had. Sometimes, when they weren't miserable they were just a little proud.

Maybe for that, they were somewhat apprehensive of outside presence, like ARGUS. Much as the agents had tried to help, like in bringing clean water to them in the beginning, once time had passed and it had been deemed that the effort could not be maintained and they couldn't supply for the demand, it had slowly come to a stop. Now the outpost did little more than observe, intervening only when necessary. They stood apart, and everyone knew it.

M'gann and her group would pass people as they walked, but none of them would stop to speak to them. Plenty more just saw them and hurried away before they could be singled out.

"I ended up here by accident once," Jax told the others. "I was still working out how my powers worked. I still remember how it felt, breathing the air." He'd been absently looking to his wrist, checking that the mask was still in place, in almost non-stop repetition since they'd left the ship. "I think I only managed to open up another breach so fast because I had to get out of here." He was looking around at the people now, the few that hadn't run but still ignored them.

"J'onn?" M'gann walked alongside him. He had assumed the human form he'd taken the first time they'd met, the man she knew had been the one to find him when he'd first landed in Dark Quarter, the better not to frighten the people of Mist. As they'd been walking, he seemed so far away, lost in his mind. "You feel it too, don't you?" she asked, and he closed his eyes, a sadness gaining on him. "It's alright. You're here with us. I'm here with you."

"They won't talk," Mike said, not a complaint but a simple statement.

"Maybe… maybe not," Nyssa told him. "But if you ask me… they know exactly what we're here for."

X

Slade's group might not have had much more luck in their interrogations, if not for an incident they'd come across. The man out of War Quarter, the one who'd become the poster boy – poster soldier – for Project Mercury, had led Mag, Roy, and Rory along, with the uneasiness of someone who'd previously lived in dire conditions of another nature in his own home, his quarter. He could almost have been back there. Maybe for that, he had been on high alert at every turn, and he hadn't been the only one. Mag wasn't doing so good, being here. She wasn't affected physically, but even without that… As for the other two, who had not left behind a world in peril when they had found their way to Main Earth, it was hard not to linger with the thought of what might have become of their home in the years and years of their absence.

And then they'd heard a scream.

A woman had been out, on her way to replenish her rations, as they'd later find out. She'd had her child with her, a boy of no more than nine or ten, although sickly as he looked, it was impossible to say. When they'd followed the scream, the four of them had come upon the mother, crouched at her son's side, while the boy appeared in distress. His mask had malfunctioned.

In no time, Roy had swept up the boy, asking for directions to the hospital. Slade had pointed him in the right direction, telling him to go ahead, that they would meet him there. And for the first time in Mist, Superman had flown across the sky. He'd gotten the boy to the hospital, soon to be joined by the others, along with the frightened young mother, who'd just taken the time to thank the man who'd rescued her son before hurrying to go and find him.

After that, as they'd stood there, they'd been approached by a pair of women, who'd commended them on their actions. And then they'd asked why they were here, because clearly they weren't from here. And so they'd told them about the water, and War Quarter.

X

It was coming to feel very likely that Seeker's group would have no better luck than M'gann's was having at the moment. Like them, Seeker, Kara, Alexandra, Barry, and Eobard were met with little more than apprehension and silence. Seeker, who like Jax had previously been left to experience the place without the protection of a mask in the beginning, shared stories of subsequent visits to Mist. She told them how she had occasionally aided some of its people in escaping to Main Earth, or to some other quarter where they could live a healthier life. Eobard had made a sound.

"Something you'd like to say, Mr. Thawne?" Seeker asked pointedly.

"No, no, not at all," he told her, though his tone said otherwise.

"Look at them, Eobard," Barry shook his head, unable _not_ to look around them. "No wonder they'd try and leave." They'd had their occasional run in with breachers out of Mist before, and as much as Barry felt he could understand them, now that he actually saw where they lived… it didn't compare. And on this, his partner could not argue. So he remained silent.

"Kara, what's wrong?" Alexandra asked, noticing a look in her sister's eyes.

"Not wrong, maybe. We're being followed," she reported.

None of them had turned, none gave any sign that they were aware. Instead they continued to walk a while longer, until they could establish that it was only one person following them, and then Seeker saw who it was and the tense feeling evaporated as she turned to find a young girl, fourteen years old, something she knew, because she'd met her before. Now that she'd been sighted, she'd come running over… and immediately took refuge in Seeker's arms.

"Sneaking up now, really?" Seeker had asked, the smile evident in her voice despite being hidden by her mask.

"I'm sorry," said the girl. "I need your help…" she went on, and seeing how nervous she was, she'd made a choice: They would take her back to the ship. That choice had been argued against – by Eobard, but it wasn't going to stop them. Soon they were being taken through decontamination there aboard the ship, where they were greeted by a confused looking Winn.

The girl had been briefly mesmerized by the Waverider. She'd seen it fly by before, but she'd never set foot in it. She removed her mask after a beat, sort of tentatively. But then she'd breathed in… breathed out… She looked like she could have passed out for how different it was from what she had always known. Knowing they might not have had much time, the small group had taken her to the galley, where an introduction to chocolate had felt like a revolution in her eyes. And then she'd told Seeker why she needed her.

X

 **ARGUS OUTPOST**

The director had told his team of agents that they would all be required to sit with the Waverider crew and their visiting agents from headquarters, that whatever information they might have been able to provide would be appreciated. He'd done this, stressing the fact that none of them were in trouble, with the hope that Ralph and his team wouldn't be met with too much resistance out of the agents.

It would all come down to a lot of what they'd already known in dealing with Mist-assigned agents: the deep disdain or the pronounced readiness. Those of the first kind were much less willing to believe they weren't being targeted, and even when they were told why the Waverider had come, they didn't look to care enough to provide any particularly helpful information. And then the other half, much as they wanted to help, quickly showed that they didn't know anything that could be of help at all.

They were coming up empty, left only with the ongoing chance any of the other teams canvassing the city would manage to find something. And when Seeker and her team were escorted through by one of the agents at the decontamination station, Ralph thought that was exactly what they were coming to tell them. There was a heavy look in their eyes, telling of a disturbing discovery, but when he asked them what it was, they wanted to speak to him and the others in private. The director, who'd been there with them, had offered his own office, so they might tell him, too.

"Good," Alexandra had told the man. "Because you need to hear it."

Minutes later, the director would have a pair of agents pulled from their desks and put into lock up. It had been done as discreetly as possible, knowing that, in the pervading mood of the Mist outpost, it could all have gone down in flames if handled the wrong way. Once the agents had been isolated, it hadn't taken long to confirm the story provided by Seeker's young friend.

The level of sickness among the people of Mist, the lingering or the ravaging effects of it, depending on the case, never had any cause to come into question. It was terrible, but it was the life they had. Some would get better, some would be ill but carry on, and others died… many died…

Except for some time now there had been something else at work. It wasn't that people didn't know about it, only that they were frightened to say a word, all of them… until the girl. She knew Seeker was not with ARGUS, and maybe that made it easier to confide in her. She had told her about the two agents who had been terrorizing her neighborhood for over a year. She had told her about how they had tampered with several homes' filtration mechanisms, how it had let the air get in, how it had caused the death of many of their people, to the point where some had been so afraid they might be next that they could barely sleep, that they wanted to leave.

In one terrifying case, the one that had incited the girl to go to Seeker when she'd seen her walking about, a friend of hers had died after her father, himself so sick already and near to death, had decided to kill her himself, with more peace than she would have been afforded if the agents had come for their house, or if she would have found herself helpless and alone after his death. They had found him on his last breath, sitting alone before his home, his mask gone.

The agents had not denied their actions. They hadn't explained themselves either, nor had they shown any remorse.

If the director in Mist had wanted to be kept busy, he'd gotten his wish. This mess would have them all occupied plenty after the Waverider sailed off. They would soon go, with their own sample of the water, in the event that they should need it in dealing with War Quarter and whatever it planned to do with the liquid. They would also take Seeker's young friend with them, along with her family. They would be settled somewhere, on Main Earth or Breach, somewhere without the need of a mask. Somewhere where they could breathe.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	8. DAY 015 (vol 1, ch 8)

_Day 15 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 8_

 **Location:**  
 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**  
 ** _THE TIME SHIP WAVERIDER  
_ _(GRANT INNOVATIONS designation)_**

No one would be sorry to leave Mist Quarter behind. As the group briefly split now found itself reunited, there was a deep set feeling of exhaustion in them, not even for the sake of what they'd had to do while they were here, but for what they saw, and what they heard, and felt… They would never forget Mist.

Getting to return on to the ship, getting to sail off from the quarter, was a procedure all its own. Decontamination was the start, as had been expected, and while they were told it could be safe to deactivate and remove their masks once they'd cleared into the Waverider again, most of those who had been to Mist for the first time in their lives that day weren't so quick to relinquish it, preferring to wait until they had made it out of the quarter before they did anything.

"What happens now?" Detective Raatko asked Ralph.

"Once we've cleared Mist, both ship and passengers get checked for damages or after-effects. We don't land anywhere until we're clear. Not that we might be contagious, but it's a precaution we've always taken," he explained.

Deep in the ship and up on the bridge at the same time, the effects of their time in Mist was already being fervently examined by Catherine Grant the not so artificial intelligence and Agent Schott of ARGUS. While it had been just the two of them aboard the ship it had been easy enough to just talk and figure things out together. Winn had tried to convince Miss Grant to come from her hiding place to join him on the bridge for once, but she had refused.

"I am much safer down here while we're swimming in that poisoned air," she'd informed him, and he resisted the urge to ask if she'd let him hide down there, too. He had his own mask and shield, whether or not he actually needed it all that much.

"I remember the time we came to Mist, and we had a malfunction, air got in, we didn't know, and the ship locked down, and we all passed out…" he told her as he worked.

"Yes, I recall. I thought I was going to die down here like a packed sardine."

"So why not just tell everyone that you're here?" he asked, using the opening she'd given him. "What are you afraid will happen if they know you're here? That they'll make you leave?"

"Agent Schott, I would focus on the task at hand before your teammates return and I'm forced to become 'Cat the AI' again." Her voice was not short, but it still told him plenty. She wasn't interested in arguing the matter today. So he'd sighed and gotten back to work. This time around, at least, the ship had held. The traces of air found aboard the ship were right on track with the usual base numbers of for a visit to Mist. He communicated as much to Dibny.

"Waverider's clear, where are we headed?"

"For now, take us into Haven until everyone's had their checkups," Ralph told him.

"Got it, next stop Haven."

The infirmary would hold and examine only two of them at a time, so two by two they'd get called in to be checked out, seeing how much or little effect the air had had on them despite the masks. Seeker's friend, and her mother and little brothers, was seen to first, per Seeker's request. The four of them had sat there in the chairs, one by one, looking so unfazed by the medical procedures, like it was any other day on Mist. At the same time, they could see plainly how, being here on the Waverider, and knowing they were likely never going to set foot on Mist again, never would need to wear masks over their faces… The mother had looked on to her children's faces like she was only now realizing how beautiful they were.

The four of them were some of the lucky ones, in more ways than the one where they got to leave. The pervasive sickness had not left them untouched in their lives, but all in all they were healthy, by Mist standards. And being somewhere else, anywhere else, would only ensure that this continued to be the case.

Those of them who weren't human had been seen next, unsure whether the air would affect them more or less than humans, something they figured they might need to know later on, after they headed into War. Roy and Rory had been examined and found as untouched by the air as though they'd never been there at all. M'gann and J'onn were just barely more affected than base numbers, which had been expected, going by M'gann's usual numbers. It would not leave much more effect in the end, that much they also knew.

Mag had been the last of their non-humans to examine, and she'd gone in at the same time as Slade, whose speed had a way of helping him shake off the effects if in low doses like they'd get for being in Mist at all. It was the same this time around for him. As for her, for having been so disturbed by the place, she had been sure that she would sit in the infirmary and be told that she had been infected, that she would be deeply ill and close to death, because why wouldn't she be? But in the end she had come from her checkup with a clean bill of health, told like all the others would in her case that she should relax, and eat, and drink, let herself recover her senses a bit before they carried on to War Quarter.

Next went the agents and the ship's crew. Patty and Rene were examined, all clear, as were Rip and Gideon, all clear, and Ralph and Winn, all clear. Mike and Jax went next. The first was almost more concerned with the condition of the Atom suit more than himself, needing to make sure it hadn't been affected either, while the other had shown traces of leftover scar tissue from that first ever visit where he'd had no mask, which made any subsequent visit feel like a risk. Both were cleared before long.

When they found themselves sitting side by side in the infirmary for their own examinations, Barry and Eobard sat in silence for the first minute or two, before Barry finally felt he had to say something, but even as he was about to speak, his partner addressed him first.

"I feel I owe you an apology, Barry." The words had been so unexpected, which, coming from someone mentally linked to him, said a lot. Barry looked over at him, and he could see it in Eobard's face. He meant it. "I've let myself get carried away recently, made assumptions I shouldn't have, about the breachers, about the… force required in dealing with them. You have to understand, it didn't start out that way."

"I know," Barry nodded. And he did. Their early days as Firestorm hadn't been anything like what the current ones were shaping up to be. But the recent ones had not effaced the memories of the old. If anything, it made him miss what they'd once been. After a few moments, he got to thinking. He remembered something. "It was that one breacher out of War, wasn't it? The one that came back." Of all the situations they'd faced, he couldn't think of any other that might have been the thing to start him changing. When he said nothing, Barry knew he'd had it right.

Being in Mist had left a mark on Eobard Thawne, not the kind that came from being exposed to it physically. He had seen with his own eyes how his people lived, and already that had been something to make him start to question himself. But then the girl, and her story… all those people who'd died, the desperate fear and what it had made some of them do…

"From now on, I'll follow your lead," he told Barry.

"We're a team, Eobard. We've always been a team." He stretched out his hand in the space between the two beds where they sat, and Thawne did the same, though they both stopped at the same moment, thinking of what their holding hands could turn into. They smiled, knowing the gesture had done what it was meant to do regardless of whether or not their hands joined.

When they were both cleared and left the infirmary, a handshake did happen, though not between the two halves of Firestorm. They had crossed with Seeker and Detective Raatko on their way out, and when he'd seen the breach hopping girl, he had made a new apology, with regards to his prejudice toward her. Seeker had looked to Barry for a moment, finding he was nodding, and then she'd shaken the man's offered hand. Right about now, they could do with more renewed alliances as they prepared to move on to the next step in their mission.

The detective had been cleared, and so had Seeker, although of the lot of them she'd shown the most exposure, not today but through previous visits. Her scarring was more pronounced than the scarring in Jax, and she had settled into her checkup knowing very well what it would tell her. It had left her breathing forever lessened, though not so much that she couldn't cope with it.

The Danvers sisters had been last to the infirmary. In the time they had been waiting for their turn, Alexandra had stood watching her little sister as she sat with the three Mist children, the littlest of them in her lap, and she told them about Haven Quarter, where they would be settled. She painted them as good of a picture as one ever could, telling them of so many of the things the rest of them mostly expected in their day to day lives, like trees, and parks… swimming pools… Ice cream, so much ice cream. She'd watched her, and there'd been such an open joy in her sister, like Alexandra had not seen in the past two years… like she hadn't seen since before Kara had been swept off into War Quarter. It had made her wish their mother could be here to see it, as much as it made her want to tell Kara herself… _See, you didn't disappear completely, did you?_

When they'd been called off to their checkups, they had left the children and their mother with a heaping helping of cake and ice cream as conjured up by the Waverider. Even seeing the treats appear before them had nurtured a wide-eyed wonderment none of those kids had really been able to experience before.

"I don't think I've seen you smile like that in years," Alexandra told her sister as they settled in to the beds in the infirmary. The smile was still there, if more subdued than it had been back with the children in the galley.

"We should put them in touch with Mom when they get into Haven."

"We should," Alexandra agreed. "We will. Even if it means telling her the truth about… the siren and the canary?" Kara had taken a quiet breath, but she'd nodded. Yes, even then.

After the two of them had been cleared, the Waverider had finally been allowed to stop its idling flight and set down near the ARGUS outpost in Haven. As all of them used the moment to step out from the ship and on to the streets of Haven, embracing that which they'd taken for granted, Kara, Alexandra and Seeker had gone with the Mist family and made for the home of Eliza Danvers.

When Eliza opened the door to find her daughters, in the attire of their secret lives, surrounded by a woman with a sleek dark ponytail, another woman, this one looking sort of sickly, and a young girl and two little boys even more so, she could not find the words to ask what this was all about. And even going into the house, where Alexandra and Kara had gone about telling her about these sides of themselves they'd kept private, telling her about where they'd just been, and who the woman and children were, she could only sit and listen.

"Please, will you help them, Mom?" Kara asked her, and Eliza had looked at her. Her little girl… lost, returned… For so long after she'd returned from War Quarter, it had been hard for her to settle back into the life she'd lost, and Eliza could see it. She'd thought it was only that she didn't remember them, and she'd left it alone, but now… now she knew there had been much more to it. Today, as she looked to Kara, she felt, finally, like she was allowed to know her entire person as it had become. And Alexandra… her Alex… the terrible time she'd been away, and she'd never understood that, either, but today…

"Of course I will," was all she could say, reaching for Kara's hand, for Alexandra's. Her girls… her wonderful girls…

It didn't feel right to have to leave again so soon, but then the Waverider would not wait forever. The sisters and Seeker had said their farewells to their young friend and her family, promising they would come and check on them again as soon as they could, and they'd headed back for the ARGUS outpost where the ship and its crew would be waiting.

When they did make it back on to the ship, they found they'd gained one additional passenger. A tall dark haired man stood on the bridge, observing the readings they had taken in Mist, readjusting his glasses as he leaned closer to the screen for a moment before standing back up again. He spotted the three returnees and gave them a nod.

"Hey, this is Harrison Wells," Winn introduced him. "We've called on him a few times in the past, thought he might be able to give us a hand with all this. He's coming with us into War."

"Before we do that, we need to talk about what we found out the water, and the trade for it," Ralph told them and the rest of their group. "We've had a chance to talk about what each group picked up on the way."

"Which is what, exactly?" Kara asked. As far as her group went, they hadn't found out anything to do with the water. M'gann's group hadn't found out anything either, except maybe that the people were scared. In hindsight, that could have had to do with the water as much as it did with the two agents who'd been tampering with the filtration systems. So that left Slade's group, him, and Mag, and Roy and Rory.

"They told us about the man who's been telling them about getting to Main Earth in exchange for their water," Mag told them. The sisters and Seeker looked at her, waiting for her to go on. "They said it was a ghost."

"So another bust then," Seeker frowned.

"Not necessarily," Slade went on. "After talking to them some more, their 'ghost' sounded closer to someone insubstantial… like a projection. To be specific, it got to sound a lot like something out of Future Quarter. Best of both worlds for someone who needs to be in Mist but doesn't want to be in Mist. He never had to go, only had to project his image through the quarters."

"Is that even possible?" Alexandra asked.

"If you imagine all the quarters stacked one over the other, in the same space, it'd be feasible to… push one's image so it can be seen through to another. Like a card under tracing paper," said Harrison Wells. "In theory."

"Future Quarter has a way of making reality out of theory," Patty nodded.

"So what we're looking at now is one or more out of War collaborating with someone out of Future, to use the water from Mist to attack War?" Detective Raatko listed off.

"That's what it's looking like," Ralph nodded, then, "So far."

Because it really was that, so far. They didn't have a complete picture, not yet, and the only way they would manage to get something close to a complete picture would be to keep going, keep digging.

"On that note, everyone buckle in, we're headed to War Quarter," Ralph addressed them all, a tone in his voice showing how little he looked forward to this, which was easy to understand, for him, for Slade, and Rip and Gideon. They had never set foot in War since they'd left, running from projects, from the duties they'd be disillusioned by. There was no telling what going back would mean for them. But there was no choice, was there? So they moved to take their positions, sitting when they could, otherwise standing.

"Are you going to be alright?" Alexandra turned to her sister as the Waverider lifted from the ground. It would be the first time she went back there since coming back to Haven.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Kara admitted. She knew by now that her sister had agreed to do this, in part, because it would give her a chance to see the place where Kara had spent all those years, the place she remembered, but would she regret it in the end?

"I will be if you will be," Alexandra promised, as the ship broke through the breach, leaving Haven for War, blue skies for ashen ones, and a chaos of sounds all about them, despite being inside the Waverider. Deep breaths were taken all around. They had left Mist behind, but this… War Quarter…

"I'd throw on that cloaking if I were you," Seeker told Ralph.

"Was just about to…" he started to say, just before the ship was violently rocked, sending those standing on their feet to fall on the ground. "Home, sweet home."

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow in volume 2)_


	9. DAY 017 (vol 1, ch 9)

_Day 17 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 9_

 **Location:**  
 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**  
 ** _THE TIME SHIP WAVERIDER  
_ _(GRANT INNOVATIONS designation)_**

Despite what could only be called a rocky welcome fit for a flight into War Quarter, the Waverider – now cloaked – landed safely within the guarded parameters of the ARGUS outpost. When they were officially and safely landed, there had been a breath of relief. And now… they had to get out there.

"I should see about damages from that… charming salute," Winn moved off.

"We can help," Roy called after him, indicating Rory, "We both can." Winn turned to them and looked like he'd been about to say no, until he remembered they might actually know a thing or two about spaceships, so a breach ship…

"Alright… Thanks… Follow me," he lead the way, mentally reminding himself he'd have to talk to Catherine Grant like she was Cat again.

"We'll be checking in with the outpost director. Seeker, Kara, you'll know people here, if you can…" Ralph had turned to them, and before he could finish his sentence, the plan was already in motion.

"We'll go to Stein Labs," Kara told him. "The Doctor can help us. And my… the Zetas might be around. They were the people who took me in when I came here. They can help, too."

"Good, keep in touch."

X

The small catch in Kara's words hadn't been lost on Alexandra. _And my…_ And her parents. That's who the Zetas had become to her, and they could hardly blame her for it, but then they had left the ship and started for the gates and there was… not giddiness exactly, but there was a new sort of energy in her. She was going back to the place she had known, for many more years than the two she'd spent back in Haven. This place was the life she'd made. Alexandra had wanted to see it, but she wasn't sure she was ready to see Kara in it.

"Maybe we should just take a shortcut," Jax gave the small group headed to Stein Labs, which included Kara, Alexandra, Seeker, Barry, Eobard, Harrison Wells, and himself.

As they nearer the gates, they could see some of the world beyond. Alexandra couldn't help but be a bit transfixed. Mist did have something of the other versions of Earth she had seen, in Haven all her life, a bit of Main Earth, like they had started from the same template before diverting into whatever made each version its own place. But Mist, with its lack of greenery, its world gated and shielded against the dangers of its air, its water, had never looked like Haven that it would be striking, like they could have been the same place if not for those problems.

War Quarter looked like it could have been Haven, after a rampage, a vast destruction, leaving them in its ruins. It reminded her of when Kara had just been home, the way she would look all around. She'd try not to show it, but she would be in such awe. And then they would go places and she would be surprised, and then she'd say something like 'back in War, that place is condemned.'

"Yeah… shortcut," Alexandra agreed.

It was not a matter of convincing the others. In no time, Jax had opened a breach, and Kara took the lead, the others following behind.

Coming through to the other side, they were in a hall she still remembered as though she'd walked through it the day before. She had gone through here so many times over the years, had run through it a few times and been reprimanded for it by Doctor Stein. One did not run in these halls. But she had, and much as he would tell her not to, by the end she wasn't entirely sure Stein hadn't been messing with her before. Being back here now, she felt a peace wash over her, a peace she had tried to make herself forget, because if she remembered it she might regret leaving.

Of course that wasn't the whole story, was it? The last few years before she'd left War and returned to Haven, she hasn't been running down these halls anymore, had she? No… She'd barely even come here. She'd struck out on her own, after finding out what the Zetas and Stein had done, and how they'd lied to her for so long. She hadn't completely turned her back on them, she couldn't. They were in her heart, and nothing could shake them away.

Then one day, after she'd tracked Seeker down and told her about how she'd somehow ended up here, the girl had figured out she was from Haven, and she had taken her there. And she hadn't been back since. She also hadn't told the Zetas that she was leaving, so… What did they think had happened to her, these past two years? Did they think she was still out here somewhere, not talking to them? Did they think she was dead? Of all the things about her return to Haven, never saying goodbye had been her one, deepest regret.

"This was where I ended up, the first time I came here… It was an accident, didn't even know I could do what I could do. I usually breach in right here whenever I come by. It's where I met her," he nodded to Kara. "She almost knocked me out."

"I _did_ knock you out," she corrected. "I thought you'd broken in." It had been one of those times when she had come back, despite the way her relationship with the Zetas had been changed, finding out about her powers.

"And the second time he laid unconscious in this hall," a voice added, and when they looked up they found a white-haired man, sitting in a motorized wheelchair, staring at the group. "This, now, this is a first," he went on, his gaze sweeping across the various faces, most of them unknown to him.

Kara saw him, sitting there in his chair, and it was as though time had not touched him. He had never looked any other way than this. He was looking back at her, too, and she wished she knew how to read the look on his face. If it had taken her so long to understand he didn't mind her running as much as she would have believed, the rest was that much harder to dig up. But then he approached her, the chair giving its steady him, until he stopped in front of her.

"It is good to see you again, Miss Zeta," he told her, and for a moment it felt good to hear her call her that, but then she had to remember…

"It's actually Danvers," she told him. "I found my family again, in Haven. This… this is my sister, Alexandra," she turned, pulling her forward, that she might meet the man. "This is Doctor Stein," she told her. She would know all about him, of course, from all Kara had told him… and the other things she had revealed just today.

"Hello," Alexandra nodded, shaking the man's hand. From there, the rest of the group had been introduced to Martin Stein, who had shaken each of their hands, before finally asking the very important question: what had brought them to his labs, all of them, on this day?

"It's a long st… story…" Kara had started, but she stopped when she saw a woman walking toward them from up the hall. No… walking wasn't right. Her steps were made of hurry, as her eyes had not left Kara since they'd found her.

Laura Zeta… Up until not so long ago, the only woman Kara remembered calling Mom.

Even now, the word seemed to hang just past her lips, wanting to be spoken. But she felt she couldn't. For so many more reasons than the fact that Alexandra was with her. It was also that she'd left so abruptly, like she had abandoned her, this woman who had taken her in, cared for her like her own, and now the word was no longer earned, no longer belonged to her. And it was that she didn't know if she could still call her that without feeling she was betraying her mother back in Haven.

But this old life, the life of Kara Zeta, it still felt like her life, her real life, and some days she still wanted it, wanted to be the girl from War Quarter. And Laura Zeta still felt like her mother. Two years without her and now she couldn't believe she had ever been upset with her, upset enough to leave without saying goodbye.

By the time the woman had almost reached them, Kara had moved forward and out of the cluster of her team. And then Laura Zeta was holding her close in her arms, and Kara returned the embrace with all the feeling of the past two years thinking of her.

"We thought they'd taken you," Laura told her, voice trembling under the weight of tears. "That you were…"

"Please forgive me," was all Kara could say, her throat feeling small.

"You're here…" Laura breathed, which was as good as saying, yes, of course she was forgiven.

But there was something else going on, and after Kara had pulled back, looked into Laura's face again, looked at Stein's, she saw… she saw… She shook her head, refusing, just refusing… But the look was still there on their faces, more present now that it had been busted, somehow, and she knew for sure. Eliot Zeta was dead.

X

 **ARGUS OUTPOST**

Being stationed in War was always said not to be for the faint of heart. Those who ended up in Mist saw it as punishment, those in Dark as being sent into some dead zone, in Haven as a vacation. In War, it was as the name said it, really. They had to be prepared for anything. Attacks and counter attacks, ambushes and hostages… Death and destruction. Someone making it through to the end of a posting in War and returning to Main was the goal, not the guarantee, and for many the goal had not been reached.

When someone would hear of War, the first question, the evident one, would always be 'What's this war about? What are they fighting for?' And when they would be asked, the people of War would just clam up, like if you weren't from there you couldn't understand, so why bother trying? So it was just War, and there was nothing more to know except that it was ceaseless.

The outpost director for War came off like some grizzly general if you didn't know him, and if you did know him, then he was just a grizzly, a big old bear.

He had greeted the visiting agents and the people from the Waverider, inquiring first over their ship, after witnessing the hit they'd taken on their way down. Ralph told him the damage was being seen to as they spoke, before asking that they speak in his office. The group followed, settled into the office with the director, and as in Mist – only now with more information – they laid out the situation. The water from Mist, the trade incited by Future, for the benefit of War…

The news was not welcomed with shock, more like expectation. He hadn't known about this, no, but being in War long enough, nothing much could surprise you anymore. So now the director knew. Now they needed to figure out what to do next, to put an end to this before it ever started.

X

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**

The damage to the ship, as a whole, wasn't as bad as it could have been. Neither Winn nor his new assistants believed it would keep them grounded in War longer than they had to be, so long as they got started and didn't get too sidetracked by the mission which had brought them here in the first place.

As they worked, for lack of better subjects, they had started exchanging stories. Winn had been told about what had brought the two aliens and their captain to Earth, about what had delayed them, too. And Roy and Rory learned of how Winn had come into contact with the serum which had turned him into Steel. They were about to veer into a new subject, but then Roy had stopped quite suddenly.

He was looking around, at the ground, and Winn didn't understand why, until Roy alerted him of a woman deep inside the ship who appeared to be injured. Winn had startled, thinking… No, it couldn't be… unless… the attack…

He took off running, and the other two followed behind him. They reached the hidden compartment, or at least they reached the place where it would be. Winn had never actually seen the door open. She had let him in that one time.

"She can't let us in," he turned to the other two, frantic. In the next moment, Roy's eyes glowed red, and beams shot from his eyes, creating and opening a hole in the wall that hid the door. This had been pulled open, too, allowing Winn to hurry inside.

Catherine Grant lay unconscious – but alive, thankfully alive – on the ground, as though she'd been propelled aside and hit her head.

"Who is she?" Rory asked.

"No time. We need to get her to the infirmary now."

X

 **STEIN LABS**

Kara had been sitting quietly, doing all she could to look invested in the conversation, as they relayed to Doctor Stein and Laura the story of how they'd been brought together, the water from Mist, how somewhere in War they were trying to acquire it, to turn it into something, into a weapon. She stared blankly while the scans from Mist were shown to Doctor Stein, who confirmed the possibility existed, that the water could, transformed in the right way, become something that would deal a heavy blow to the city.

Laura Zeta had done her best to leave her space, to compartmentalize the return of her girl in favor of this problem looming over her fellow citizens' heads, but it was hard not to just stare at her sitting there, to bask in her being alive, and to feel the grief in her over Eliot, killed just weeks after Kara had disappeared. Could she tell Kara that he had been killed while trying to find her, or would it be too much for her in that moment? She could not forget how the missing pieces of her memories had pained her, how Eliot had comforted her. _He_ had been Kara's father in his heart before _she_ had ever been her mother. He had adored her, the daughter they had never had, and losing her had devastated him.

"What are you doing?" Barry inquired of Doctor Stein as the man tapped at a screen.

"I may be able to locate traces of Mist in the city using this," he waved the tablet with the data they'd collected. Barry stood behind him now, watching along. Eobard was watching, too, as were Harrison and Seeker and Jax. Alexandra was watching Laura. Laura was watching Kara. Kara was looking at the desk in the corner of the room. _Dad's desk._ Jeremiah Danvers had been long dead by the time she had returned to Haven. Eliot Zeta was still the only father she recalled.

When they heard a repeated beeping sound from the screen, she only looked up when Stein announced he'd found a trace… and it was active.

"What do you mean, active?" Alexandra asked.

"I mean… this," Stein pointed to a small cloud sort of presence over a small corner of the map of the city as he displayed it. "The site was put under lockdown this morning, due to… an incident." His tone said plainly what this 'incident' would have to be.

"We have to go and see," Kara stated, her first words since she'd learned of Eliot's death. "We can stop whatever is out there. We have to."

"Much as I would agree," Harrison Wells piped in, "We don't know yet just what was done, and before anyone goes there, we need to know what we're running into."

"We have masks, with shields," Seeker provided.

"Yes, but unfortunately, the idea here will be to make these masks unable to stop the effects," Laura pointed out. "You'll need more. It's not safe now."

"We at least need to warn the others," Seeker stood. "And you two," she nodded to Barry and Eobard. Maybe your buddy Firestorm can do something about all this? Shake hands, give it a shot?"

They had reached out to Winn back on the Waverider, found the call taken instead by Gideon, who informed them of another situation happening on the ship, though she wouldn't go into details. Still, she promised them reinforcements would soon be on their way.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	10. DAY 019 (vol 1, ch 10)

_Day 19 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 10_

 **BREACH EARTH, DARK QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

This quarter had unnerved Lily Stein before long. The lack of light in this place played against her abilities, didn't leave much in the way of reflection, unless the moon was big and bright above, which it just never seemed to be. It bugged her. And it wasn't the only thing.

Jesse, lying back in the grass next to where she sat, had been popping little zaps of electricity over her head, like her own private fireworks display, which were eventually shown to be her shocking the poor unsuspecting insects who had been unfortunate enough to fly toward the light she was giving off. Lyra found it hilarious. Lily, not so much.

"Those people down there are backwards enough that they _might_ burn people as witches, you want to cool it a bit there, Livewire?"

"Buzzkill," Jesse chuckled. "I'll remind you we're up on this hill because you wanted to come up with some plan. I'm not hearing a lot of planning, _Mirror Mistress_."

"I think, I don't speak. It would be easier to think if I didn't keep hearing your incessant _crackling_!" Jesse responded to this by 'crackling' at her, and Lily looked ready to show her a bit of 'planning on the fly' with her fists.

"Hey, alright, alright!" Lyra raised her voice, throwing them both off balance for a second. They looked at her, and she knew she had a very brief time to get her point across. "Let's just come back at night." Lily gestured to the city below. "I mean the kind where everyone is sleeping and won't get in our way. Let's try another quarter, trust me. I'm from here, remember? We'll have a better shot at finding anything then." Jesse turned her head toward Lily.

"Well, boss?" she asked, teasing. Lily reached into her pocket, pulled out the small device, and soon they were gone from the hill.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, LIGHT QUARTER**

"Okay… Opposites day, huh?" Jesse looked around, wincing against the high sun.

It was exactly as one would imagine when faced with a Dark Quarter and then a Light. Permanent night in one, and in the other only the day, like some messy divorce where one quarter got the moon and the other the sun. At least it wasn't unbearable. The days were often warm, yes, but not so humid as to leave its population struggling. As a whole, the two quarters resembled one another a lot, though people didn't notice so much, focusing much more on the fact that it was always dark here and sunny there.

The people in both quarters would come to shape their lives and their customs by the light or the dark. Lyra had heard 'born to the dark, died in the dark' enough times in her life to make her seek the light, and she fully suspected the opposite was just as true here. In Dark, fire and the moon were the only light they would welcome, and in Light, one lived and slept in the light and refused anything else.

"Looks like nighttime in Dayland," Jesse commented, and she may have been right. The streets were empty, except a few stragglers who might have been having a 'night' on the town.

"Good. Then let's see what we can find down there," Lily nodded, and they took off into the city.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, MIST QUARTER**

By mercy or common professional decency, Nate and Raymond had been warned and equipped before their first foray into Mist. Even so, it wasn't long that they both looked forward to leaving. Nate had very nearly flat out refused to even attempt going to Mist, no matter what it would do for them and this job. Raymond had not tried to talk him into it, no. He had known Nate Heywood long enough to know how to deal with him in times like these. Having spent the better part of his childhood in his room, 'for his own good,' once he had started to expand his world, he had discovered these anxieties, these fears. And always, always, when given enough time - and the power to make up his own mind - he would find a way to get things done as they should be done. This now included taking a deep breath, fixing that mask to his face, and jumping into Mist.

"This better not be the place," had been his first assessment to Raymond, as they looked around the place.

"Keep talking like that, and it probably will," Raymond pointed out, getting a muffled groan out of Nate's mask.

It had all been going about as well as could be expected, but even for how much Nate was trying his hardest to keep it together, Raymond could see he was struggling to keep it together. He had a good feeling this would end in a panic attack and presumed malfunction of the mask on his partner's part, to the point where he'd just about clocked it. Three, two, one...

"I think it's not working anymore... I won't be able to breathe... Raymond... Can't..."

"Alright, take it easy," he'd grabbed Nate's arm, opened the breach and took them out of Mist.

x

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

As soon as they'd reached the other side of the breach, Nate was clawing to remove the mask, taking one lungful of air after another. When he caught the scent of ash and decay, he started to cough, looking around.

"Where are we?" he asked, still coughing.

"War Quarter, by the looks of it," Raymond scanned his surroundings like he'd just said 'now this is more like it,' as he took off his own mask. Nate tried to walk off in one direction or another where he might not have to smell the things he was smelling, before he could look at Raymond again with eyes that denied any future excursions into Mist where he might be expected to be involved. "You know your mask was working just fine. But, if it will help, I will take a look at it. I might be able to make it even better." There was little to argue against that. Raymond Palmer knew his way around clever constructions.

"This is where that girl said she was from, right?" Nate asked as they started to walk, at all times aware of where they were headed, what dangers might come their way. He didn't let go of his gun at any time, and neither did Raymond. "The look on your face when she rammed at you, now that was something... right before she got me in the shin."

x

 **BREACH EARTH, FUTURE QUARTER**

They hadn't known what to expect. Sure, they knew the place existed, but someone said 'Future Quarter' and it all came off looking like something out of an old science fiction novel, or a TV show. This place wasn't that. Not that it was entirely disappointing, no, far from that. In a way, it was actually better. It felt more real, maybe because at its core you could still see it had once been their city, like any other quarter.

This was the place Vandal had come from, and knowing it more than any other place on this Earth, he had given them enough so that they wouldn't be detected. A couple people like them, from Haven or any other place that wasn't this one, would have been identified immediately and booted back wherever they'd come from. But they had been 'marked,' essentially, given passage within the quarter by one of its citizens, and that was apparently good enough for everyone. So on they went.

"The things I could make with some of this," Raymond observed, looking at some displays through a shop window, just as a figure seemed to appear in the glass... and jump out at him, tackling him to the ground in the surprise. Nate had recognized her at once, pointed his gun at her, only to find the world looked like it was closing in on him, making him seek out the ground as soon as possible and letting his heat gun hit the ground. The world now righted itself to the tune of a girl's laughter, as she and the third of their infernal trio came into view.

"You looked like you were going to be sick for a second," Jesse told him with mock concern, while Lyra had retrieved his heat gun, pretended to point it at him, then handed it back to him, while Lily got up and offered her hand to help Raymond back to his feet. There was no doubt they had the same protection the two of them did. No one walking by came near or tried to stop them.

"Morning, boys, how's your day going?" Jesse asked.

"I don't know, but seeing as you're here, playing games, they must really not be getting along too far on your end, huh?" Nate pointed out.

"We saw that girl you brought in to Vandal earlier, with that bandage around her arm," Lily motioned to her shoulder. "Did you see our guy? Did you see any scrapes, or bruises, or... burns... on him? What's the matter, did she get under your skin? Did she do something to bother you, fire boy? Or was it you, icicle?" she turned to Raymond on the end.

"Again... games," Nate shrugged, dismissing their attempts to get at him. "If you'll excuse us, we have a job to do."

"That's funny, so do we," Lyra beamed, a glimmer in her eye that would make anyone who knew what she could do start to feel just a bit concerned that the ground might drop from under them or twist and crush them or whatever she'd do to them. "What do you say, you want to team up?"

"As tempting as that is, I think I'm going to pass. Raymond?" he turned to his partner.

"Hard pass. You have yourselves a nice day, ladies," Raymond turned up the mock cordiality, getting equally faked gestures from the girls, before both teams walked in opposite directions. As they distanced themselves, Raymond looked like he would have loved to turn the next person he crossed into an ice sculpture, while on the other end Jesse could have lit up the whole place.

x

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

 **SOMEWHERE...**

Zari Tomaz was carefully cleaning and wrapping Wallace West's fingertips, all those he'd torn to blood, trying to pick at the tiles in search of a way out of the room where they were being held captive. She would have pointed out how what little they had was coming in very handy if it hadn't been sort of depressing. For what felt like hours she'd either sat or stood, watching him as he sat on his knees around one tile and tried to pry at some corner or another, and then, when he'd abandoned the disappointing tile as being just a tile, he'd move to another, because clearly this would be the one... just like the last one had been and the next one would be.

She'd offered to give it a shot, but he'd just tell her he had it handled and he didn't want her to get any more hurt than she already was. Not that she was looking forward to pick at those tiles, of course. She was starting to think more and more that their previous assumption was completely wrong and she didn't have the heart to tell him, not until he'd finally given up, defeated and with six bloodied fingertips, and then she'd set to fixing them as best she could.

"I don't think we can get those open," he declared dejectedly.

"No, probably not. There has to be something else though, right? Just because we can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there. And... it so happens we have all the time in the world to figure it out." The joke felt so flat in her ears. She closed the kit and came to sit next to him. He was looking up at the windows.

"It should be night by now," he told her. "I don't think those windows are real." She'd figured that one, too, and she could only bow her head for a moment, as they both just sat there, faced with their diminishing options and trying very hard not to think they had run out of them entirely.

And then, just as she was starting to think she could really do with something to eat right about now, there was a scent in the air, like they were in some cartoon and there'd be that line in the air indicating some odor or another, drawing a character levitating toward the source. Well, she stayed firmly sat on the ground, but when she turned her head to look, she saw... a tray, packed with food and two bottles.

"Okay, your thing about not realizing when I was brought in here is starting to make more sense now..." she spoke in awe, tapping Wallace's shoulder so he would look, before she stood and moved to pull the tray to where they'd been sitting. His eyes had gotten back some of the life in them at the sight of this feast. "What do you think? Safe?"

"I'm almost hungry enough that I wouldn't care," he admitted.

"Right, so... We're just going to do this, no matter what?" she suggested with a nod.

"I think I smell bacon..." he tried to find which container or bag had it.

"You are welcome to it," she told him, "But this... this is mine."

In no time they were quietly making a dent in the food that had appeared in their midst not five minutes before. There was the thought of maybe pacing themselves, not knowing if or when they would get more, but the stress of their capture and detainment and failed attempt for escape was superseding all thoughts of rationing in favor of eating as much as they could eat without making themselves sick.

"So tell me something," Wallace started to ask, as they sat before the defeated tray, cradling their bottles of water. "Why us? I mean... I could make a few guesses with me, but... Why'd they take you?"

"Beats me," Zari shrugged. "Although... Well, I'm a reporter, and I've been known to ruffle a few feathers," she said this like she was proud of those feathers having been ruffled. "But to end up in this nightmare room with its invisible doors and magically appearing loads of food... I really don't know." She sat in silence for a few seconds, wondering if she should point out to him that the food had appeared on the opposite side from where she had appeared. "So, your guesses?" He nodded to himself for a moment.

"My father, he's... it's complicated. He started out a good guy, at least I'm pretty sure he was, when my sister and I were kids. Then our mother died and he just... spiraled himself all the way into some kind of super villain."

"That's... yeah, that'd do it," she blinked in awe. She hadn't been trying to make him laugh, but the fact that he did was almost reassuring. "If they took you because of him, that still doesn't explain why I'm here. I've never met you, and I'm pretty sure I've never met your dad. We don't exactly run in the same circles... or Earths. I'd almost say it was random if it wasn't for your dad the super villain." He sighed. "Think it's safe to go to sleep or should one of us stay awake while the other sleeps, just in case something shifty happens and we miss it?"

"Maybe that," he agreed. "Who goes first?"

"Considering you've been nodding off since we finished eating, why don't you go first? Maybe a bed will magically appear," she joked, though she did absently look around in case it happened for real. It didn't. Wallace moved to retrieve the jacket he'd taken off when he'd started to pick at the floor, rolled it in a ball, and jammed it under his head as he lay down on the floor.

"You can have the 'pillow' when it's your turn," he offered.

"You're too kind," she smirked. They had to get their wins where they could, right? "I'll just walk around a while, in case I find something useful. Wouldn't say no to a book popping up or something," she raised her voice at this, in case their captors were listening. When she looked back down, Wallace was already sound asleep. "See? It was definitely you first," she told his sleeping form before getting up, quietly picking up their discarded food wrappers on to the tray, because who said she couldn't keep a clean nightmare room? When that was done, she started walking around, just as promised.

They had to find a way out, they had to. Failing that, someone had to find them... They were doing pretty well so far, but if this went on too long, they just might have lost their minds. She hoped Lisa had gotten her message. Knowing her friends, they'd be moving Main Earth and Breach both to find her, although... could she really have them looking for her at a time like this, breachers running over the city like they did?

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	11. DAY 021 (vol 1, ch 11)

_Day 21 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 11_

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**  
 ** _THE TIME SHIP WAVERIDER  
_ _(GRANT INNOVATIONS designation)_**

 **MED BAY**

Winn had led the way, guiding Roy as he carried Miss Grant in his arms and Rory as he trailed behind them, as they brought the injured stowaway from her secret home of years and up to the med bay. Upon arrival, he'd incited the man to set her down carefully on one of the two chairs.

"Cat, we…" he'd started, absentmindedly calling to the ship AI, before remembering she wasn't an AI, and she was the one presently in need of assistance. With a frown at his own mishap, he had moved to start the scan himself. "If you hadn't seen her…" he breathed out, looking to the two aliens standing by. In all the time she had been down there, unknown to the rest of them, all the times the ship had met turbulence like this… Had she ever been incapacitated this way before? No, she couldn't have, or else they would have run diagnostics upon finding that 'Cat' wasn't responding, right?

"Who is this woman?" Rory asked the question Winn had yet to answer for them. He looked back at them with a sigh.

"Long story," he told them. Maybe he could get her back down there before anyone else found out, asked the two of them not to say anything… fix that hole in the wall…

"How about you start telling it?" He looked up at the sound of Rip's voice. He stood there, along with Gideon, Slade, and Ralph. They approached now, looking at the woman laid unconscious before them. Another sigh, and he told what he could.

"This is Catherine Grant, CEO of Grant Innovations, the creator of the ship you're standing on. Also she's from the future. Also she's Cat," he motioned around them as some shorthand to indicate the AI they all knew. Already this piece of information had them all silently stunned. "Far as I know, she was on the ship when Leonard… acquired it… and she's been hiding down in a hidden compartment of the ship, passing herself off as an AI the whole time, and none of us knew she was there, until I found her quarters by accident and she revealed herself to me. When the ship was hit coming into War, she sustained some injury I am now trying to identify, and was knocked out. Roy here saw her through the floors with his… eyes… and then we got her out and brought her here. Sidebar, there is a hole in a wall somewhere, which will be repaired. Also the repairs to the ship are not completed yet."

He stopped, gave a tip of the head to indicate he was done.

The six standing around the med bay, having listened to this explanation now stood in sustained silence. There was little to no space for any of them to find fault in the tale. Those of them who had been calling the Waverider home for any amount of time had of course seen the markings of Grant Innovations here and there throughout the ship. They had never given it that much thought, truth be told. They had never even known where this ship had come from, only that it was able to cross the breaches. Still, could they believe that this person they had never met before could have been in their midst all along without their knowing it?

Whether or not they could, the truth was they didn't have time to give it proper consideration, not now.

"Right... Will you stay here and see to her for now?" Ralph asked Winn. He nodded. "There's a situation out there, we're off to join the group at Stein Labs."

"Wait, you guys, you're... you're going out there? Into War Quarter?" Winn frowned, surprised.

"Unfortunately we don't have much of a choice. We'll keep you posted."

"Okay..." was all Winn could say as the four of them left the med bay. He turned back to Roy and Rory. "Don't suppose you two could see about the ship repairs while I look after her?"

"We're on it," Roy agreed.

"Would you like us to close that hole in the wall?" Rory added.

"Please," Winn sighed as they left. "Alright, Miss Grant, let's see about waking you up."

X

There would be three more to join the four of them heading off ship and past the ARGUS gates. M'gann would follow her teammates, along with J'onn, while Mike, seeking to assist his friends in what way he could, would also join them. Their added presence would either help matters or make them worse.

Ralph, Rip, Gideon and Slade, the four of their crew to have come out of this quarter had at one time been jokingly referred to as the 'WarRiders,' and the name had come to stick. It bordered on irony, as War Quarter was the one place where they wouldn't go, not out in the open, not usually. They were protected, so long as they remained within the bounds of ARGUS, but through those gates they remained fugitives... deserters... Under normal circumstances, they would remain on the ship, leave the rest of the team to handle whatever situation would take them out into the quarter, but this was not an option, not today. They would just have to take that risk and hope no one recognized them.

"No wings, no speed," Ralph had still reminded them as they moved toward the gates. Gideon had given him a pointed look for it. They had done their best to cover themselves up without giving off the distinct impression that they were trying to hide who they were. "Sorry..." he'd told them. He was nervous, they understood. They were all nervous.

They had grown up in this quarter, they had all gotten to the point where they had enlisted, and in one way or another their lives had been veered off course because of the programs.

Slade Wilson had seen Project Mercury formed around him, following the incident which gave him his speed. He would never have suspected that he would one day find himself with any sort of power beyond what personal attributes and training had brought him, and then from one day to another he had become a speedster. Until he'd come along, there had been none of these special projects, but after Mercury had come attempts to replicate his incident with purpose and with varied results. It wasn't long after this that he'd come to understand what his worth had become to his superiors. And after that he had fled.

And then there were the Hawks. There was Rip Hunter, who _had_ volunteered for special projects, as plenty of his fellow soldiers had done, though few were selected... He had been selected, and he had submitted himself to whatever treatments had been necessary. Whatever inconvenience he had run into along the way, he had gone right along with it... until he'd met her. Actually, before he'd met her... until he'd _felt_ her. He had felt her anguish first, though he hadn't understood what it meant, not until he'd met her, another recruit to Project Horus, but with unfortunate results... She had no memories of her life before Horus. She only had one name left... Gideon.

It hadn't even been because of this that they'd escaped, not really. It was just... everything, what they'd been put through in order to get to what they'd become, through to the realization that, in the end, the two of them were expendable. Him and Gideon in particular, the first wave, with that unintentional deep link... They didn't want that for the next waves of Project Horus. It hadn't been for his sake, it was her... He'd needed to protect her, and he had. He'd taken the both of them out of there, and that was how they'd come across Slade, how they'd lived on the run for a while.

And Ralph Dibny, well... he'd been one of those they'd been running from, hadn't he? He hadn't been part of a project, no, they wouldn't have him. It was an old injury, the same one which had almost sidelined him entirely, and searching for the fugitives had been his way of regaining what he'd lost of himself. But in the end, when he HAD found them, he hadn't turned them in: he'd helped them. And now that they had become part of the Waverider team, he was just as much of a deserter as they were... and they were friends, family.

None of the four of them had gone past those gates since the day they'd been taken aboard the Waverider for the first time, and with good reason. Now, going back... it felt like the worst idea they might have had. But there was no choice to it. The situation was too dire, and their knowledge of the terrain, of the people, along with the absence of the majority of their team, left them no choice. It was time to cross the gates.

"Are you sure about this?" M'gann asked them as they stood there. "I can take the others with me."

"No," Slade told her, never looking away from the gates. "We're going." There was no need to ask the others. They all had that same sort of determined look on their faces. If they weren't ready now, they would never be.

The gates opened, and they walked through. Almost as soon as they'd cleared them, they were closed again, the guards stepping back into place. The echo went on resonating in their ears, a feat in and of itself, in the din of the city opening out before them.

"It hasn't changed at all, has it?" Gideon asked Rip. Even without her memories, it seemed like she knew, and he had shaken his head in confirmation. To some extent, the loss of her memories had never been an issue to her. It was hard to miss something she didn't remember, much as other people around her insisted that she _should_ want to remember who she was before. They saw her as empty, barely a real person, didn't they? Well, she didn't. She knew who she was. And Rip, he knew it, too. Rip was as much a part of her as her wings.

"I do wish you hadn't brought the Atom suit with you," M'gann had told Mike, all the while keeping an eye on J'onn as he took in his surroundings, unsure what being in a place like this would do to him.

"Only a precaution," he promised her. He understood why she wouldn't want him to pull it from his pocket, to put it on. In a place like this, if any part of that suit fell in the wrong hands...

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

 **STEIN LABS**

They were waiting. There was trouble out there, but they were waiting for backup, for some way to approach the site that Doctor Stein had located, an 'incident' earlier that day which they now knew to involve the Mist water. Their masks wouldn't protect them this time, so there was nothing for them to do BUT to wait, and they did. Some of them were working through the information they had, hoping to come up with something, while the rest could only stand, or sit, walk about...

Alexandra had been waiting, not only for the Waverider team, but for a moment, a window of opportunity. When she'd found it, she'd taken it.

"Sorry, excuse me, Doctor Zeta?" she'd approached the woman, sitting at the small desk which had once belonged to her husband, Eliot. She looked up. "I... I realize the time might not be the best, it's just..."

"You want to talk about Kara's time here," Laura Zeta guessed, and Alexandra nodded. The woman indicated another chair nearby. As Alexandra sat, Laura reached into a drawer, pulling out a framed photograph she now handed over. There stood Laura Zeta, with a man who had to be Eliot Zeta, and between them... Kara was just a bit older than she'd been when she'd disappeared here, maybe sixteen or seventeen, but it was striking nonetheless, having nothing of the gap between her disappearance and her return.

The girl in that photo looked happy. She smiled... She smiled in a way Alexandra didn't know that she'd ever seen her sister smile since her return to Haven. It took her breath away just a bit.

"She should take it with her, when she goes back home again," Laura declared, looking across the room to where Kara stood talking with Seeker. Alexandra looked, too. Laura was so convinced she would leave again... Alexandra wasn't so sure she would.

"Our father was killed, in that same moment when Kara was thrown into this quarter," she told Laura Zeta. "For a long time, I was lead to believe she'd died, too. When she... when she came here..."

"She was lost, scared. She didn't know who she was. Eliot and I, and Doctor Stein, we did our best to help her, just to keep her alive at first, and then after that. We didn't know about the breaches, the other quarters, though Doctor Stein did, and when he realized this child was not from here, he had told us. But she was alone, could have come from any one of them, and she didn't remember who she was, couldn't have pointed us in the right direction, and then... the best we could do was to look after her, to protect her."

"And turn her into a meta," Alexandra added, though there was no animosity in the statement. Laura still bowed her head, bearing her personal shame.

"The way she was, when we found her, it was the best we could do to treat her, knowing it might... unlock some dormant potential in her. She might not have survived if not for it." She looked down at the picture sitting between them. "We should have told her earlier, explained to her the possibilities, but we..." They'd loved her, and they'd sought to protect her. They had been her parents. Alexandra had wanted to know that she had been cared for in all those years, and there really was no doubt to it, was there?

Across the room, Kara had been left alone as the wait had started, the feeling going around being that she needed some time to herself, to process all that she had discovered in returning to this place. Eventually, she had become aware of Seeker's now standing at her side, without saying a word.

"I lost my father and brother when I was ten, lost my mother when I was seventeen," she spoke after a few seconds. "Before that, I'd been kept hidden away in our home, away from the war to the point where I didn't even really understand there WAS a war. Then one day my mother was killed, and suddenly I was all on my own. A year after that, I got the power that made me Seeker. I've never set foot back in my old home, and I can only imagine what being back here must be like for you. I also remember, when I did leave it for the first time, seeing what the world was like out there, realizing I'd been kept in the dark..."

"I should have asked you to wait before you took me to Haven," Kara had finally spoken, cutting in. "I should have told them I was going, should have said goodbye... Maybe I wouldn't have gone, or... I don't know..." she shook her head.

"Maybe your father wouldn't have died?" Seeker had made a guess at what the unspoken end of that sentence would have been. Kara let out a breath. So they'd both figured the same cause for Eliot Zeta's demise, hadn't they? "Questions like that, you might be better off putting them aside, not digging. You might not like what you find out," Seeker pointed out, drifting away just a bit, thinking of her mother.

X

 **WAVERIDER MED BAY**

When Catherine Grant regained consciousness, it took a few seconds of her eyes scanning the room before she understood exactly where she was. For one, she wasn't in her quarters. Also, she was in the med bay.

She tried to sit up, which turned out to be a mistake, which sent her head spinning.

"Woah, hey, take it easy, you're still recovering," Winn had caught hold of her and helped her lie back down.

"What am I doing here?" she asked, closing her eyes until the world would settle down.

"Do you remember crossing into War? The ship took a hit, you fell in the turbulence, you were injured, we found you and brought you here."

"The ship..." she asked, and he frowned.

"Being repaired as we speak. But how are you feeling?"

"Repaired by who?" she asked, once again showing more concern for the ship than herself.

"Superman and Valor," he informed her, and she laid there for a moment until she remembered who they were. "Alright, I suppose."

"You'll be alright, you just need to rest."

"Who else knows I'm here?"

"Ralph, the Hawks, Slade... Probably whoever they took out into War with them..."

"They went out into the quarter?" she asked, startled. "Call them back, they can't be out there, if they're caught..." The world started to spin again, and Winn nodded, helping her back down.

"Again, you need to relax, okay? They'll be fine."

X

 **OUT IN WAR QUARTER**

They were almost at Stein Labs when they came across a situation on the street. A man and girl were running away from a group of soldiers, each hauling bulging bags of what looked like food, stolen, by the sound of the soldiers' shouts. The four WarRiders and their friends had stood there, watching as the girl touched a red jewel around her neck. The jewel glowed bright, and then with a wave of her arm, the girl had sent out a mighty gust of wind, knocking the soldiers away from them enough that she and her partner could get away.

"What was that..." Mike blinked, looking after the escaping duo.

"Seen her before. I think they call her Mistral," M'gann told him. "We shouldn't stay here, we should keep moving."

They were about to do just that, and they would have... only they were surrounded. There had been another group of soldiers coming along, backup for the first group maybe, until they'd spotted the seven of them standing there, and somehow they'd recognized the four fugitives, because they had their weapons trained on them. And looking forward again, the first group of soldiers had recovered, only to pull out their weapons, too, seeing the second group's targets.

"Everyone stay calm," Ralph spoke slowly. "They may not know..."

"Wilson, Hunter, Gideon, Dibny. On your knees, hands behind your heads," one of the soldiers stepped forward. "Heard a rumor you were running with those Waverider people," the man declared, waving his weapon toward M'gann. "Never thought you'd have the guts to show your faces. Now. On your knees. You're under arrest."

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	12. DAY 023 (vol 1, ch 12)

_Day 23 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 12_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **STEIN LABS**

If Alexandra Danvers and Laura Zeta had felt in any way apprehensive around one another, for being the family Kara had gone back to, her true family, or for being the family she'd grown with, her found family, one thing would forever bind them, and that was the love they had for Kara. If there was another, it would be a familiarity with her ticks, and her limits. And looking at her now, the way she held herself as all of them waited to hear from the team off of the Waverider, they both could see one limit that was about to be reached, already somewhat accelerated by the stress of discoveries.

Something needed to happen soon, or she would decide to head out there now, whether or not the others had come to lend back up.

It wasn't that they were sitting and waiting, twiddling their thumbs, no. Wells and Stein, along with Laura, had been working off the data they had on hand to boost the mask's shields and ensure that they would hold up against whatever had been done with the Mist water, and they were getting close to something, but without any way to test or double check or…

"That's it," Kara stood and moved to where the three of them were working. "I can't keep sitting out here, I'm going over there to see what's been done."

"The Waverider…" Alexandra started to point out.

"Is probably too busy with ARGUS, trying to decide what they will or won't do, and while that's happening, there could be people out there suffering, dying. Alex, I'm sorry, but you don't know what it's like out here. It's hard enough as it is without getting poisoned by that water, and the longer we wait…"

"Are those masks ready yet?" Seeker added, coming to stand at her side, as good as proclaiming she was backing her play. Alexandra looked to her sister. Laura looked to her daughter. They knew that face. She was going to do what she thought was right, whether or not it actually was.

"We've adjusted them, and in theory they should be enough, but there's no telling until they're tested," Laura revealed, the looks she got from Stein and Wells showing how the two of them felt the progress was nowhere near what she suggested. They said nothing though, there was no point. Either they gave her something or Kara would just try her luck with the regular masks, or none at all.

"How many of them are done?" Alexandra asked.

"Four," Doctor Stein told them. Already they knew Kara would be going, and Seeker, and Alexandra, which left a fourth.

"Will it protect us all the same if the two of us merge as Firestorm?" Barry asked, looking to Eobard. The three scientists looked to one another. None of them had ever seen the combined form. When told just what Firestorm was, there'd been some hesitation, but finally all they could say was that they believed it would work just as well.

"It'll have to do then," Eobard Thawne nodded before holding his hand out to Barry.

X

 **NEAR STEIN LABS**

For a few seconds, no one moved. Most of the weapons appeared to be concentrated on the four former soldiers, less so on the three standing with them, though this didn't convince M'gann or J'onn or Mike that they could perhaps run off and get away untouched. Even if that was the case, they couldn't leave the others behind.

As to the four WarRiders, their faces gave plenty as to their current state of mind. Ralph, being the only one of them without some power or another to perhaps help him get away, gave little hope to his ability to reach his weapon before someone put him down. At this point, doing as he was told would have seemed the prudent course. And still he couldn't bring himself to do it, not so long as the others remained standing, and even then… Once he would have been right there with those soldiers, seeking to bring the deserters in. He hadn't known them then… He hadn't known them when he'd first joined them, truth be told, but he had still been able to see something in them worth trusting. These soldiers here, they weren't even looking at them as people, and they wouldn't.

Slade thought about running. He could have, too. He could have taken his friends and allies away from here, one by one, before any of the soldiers around them could even decide to pull a trigger. And then what? They had a mission here, something much more important than the four of them perhaps. If they ran, it would keep them out of harm's way, keep them from being locked up, but it wouldn't erase this moment. Alarms would be raised, they would be hunted, all through the city. What assistance they might have needed would be taken from them, and any future interventions from the rest of the Waverider team would find opposition from the resistance army. Slade thought about running, but he didn't move an inch.

Gideon could feel at times like her wings were right there, itching to come out. The feeling would burn along her back, her shoulders, like a pulse waiting to explode. If she felt threatened, if Rip was in trouble, she would feel it that much more. Right now, the feeling of her wings radiated off of her, and this was something of an issue already, but then there was the rest. She didn't always have control of herself. Sometimes she would get confused, or feel a panic rise in her, and then… then it wasn't just the wings anymore. In those moments, she felt little of her own humanity, and if it wasn't for Rip, then… then she might never come down again.

They couldn't have that now. He knew it, and he prayed that she knew it, too, that she'd be able to keep it together and not 'hawk out,' but that was hardly within her control, was it? Rip wasn't looking at her, wasn't taking his eyes away from the soldiers, but on the inside he was reaching for her hand, was willing for her to retain her calm, not to do anything that would get them all in more trouble than they already were. Everything he'd ever done, from the day they'd run from the base, all of it had been for her sake, to keep her safe, to keep her out of this very situation. He had failed, he felt, even though he knew there'd been no other choice. They couldn't stay hidden this time.

"I will not repeat myself again," the soldier's voice climbed, and with it they could feel hands tightening on weapons all around them. " _On your knees, hands behind your heads!_ "

"What do you want us to do?" M'gann quietly asked Ralph.

"Let them go, and we will obey," he called out, tipping his head to her and the other two civilians. The soldier didn't speak, but in his motion to the others to hold their fire, he gave his answer. "Go, warn the others. Help Kara and the others if you can." He didn't say it, but the rest was left there on the air. _Forget about us, the rest is more important._ M'gann shook her head. "Please," Ralph insisted, turning his eyes to Slade and the Hawks. The longer this went, the more likely one or more of them wouldn't last the day. They needed to go.

"This isn't over," she spoke quietly, before turning to J'onn and Mike and signalling for them to follow her.

"You're really going to leave them here? They didn't do anything," Mike muttered as they stepped out of the circle of trained weapons and turned back to watch as Ralph, Slade, Rip, and Gideon slowly got down on their knees and put their hands at the back of their heads before soldiers came up to fasten cuffs at their wrists and chains at their feet before pulling them up to shuffle off under escort.

"I'll explain on the way," M'gann could only shake her head, leading them off to return to the Waverider as fast as they could. They'd been so close to Stein Labs, but for now they'd have to double back and hope for the best.

X

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**

Despite Winn's insistence that she should remain in the med bay to rest, once he had confirmed that her injuries had been tended and her life was in no way in danger, Catherine Grant was once again up and about. And now that her presence aboard the ship was now apparently common knowledge, she walked its halls, for once, in full view and without covering her tracks as she had done whenever she'd needed it over the years she'd spent as an unknown twelfth passenger.

And though none but Winn Schott was presently on board the ship, of the eleven men and women she'd previously only ever interacted with in the guise of Cat the AI, she felt plenty of eyes on her already. Even among those who were now aboard to assist with the ongoing situation in Mist and War, the tale of the hidden woman being discovered had been something of a curiosity. They looked at her as she walked by, allowing Agent Schott to offer his arm for support.

They made for the bridge, at her request, and once they made it there she inquired as to the progress of the repairs. They were coming along. And what about the group who'd gone to Stein Labs? No word from them since they'd called for backup. And those who'd gone to be their backup? No word from them either. Winn couldn't help but defer to her. It _was_ her ship, wasn't it?

"How did you do it?" he had to ask, now that she wasn't in hiding anymore. "Staying down there all this time, hidden, no contact with anyone else…"

"What do you mean, I had all of you," Catherine replied.

"Well… sure, but none of us thought you were… real," he shrugged.

"But I knew that _you_ were. It might not seem ideal to you, but in many respects this arrangement benefited me just fine." She looked around the bridge in silence for a moment. "It's what will happen next that worries me more." Almost on cue, it was in that instant that M'gann arrived to find her teammate, J'onn and Mike following after her.

"They were arrested," she started. "Ralph, Slade, the… the Hawks." She paused, finding a stranger standing there with Winn. "Who…" she started to ask, until the woman started to speak.

"I knew this would happen, I told you, they shouldn't have gone," the woman had turned on Winn as though this had all been his doing. M'gann blinked, looking at this woman who sounded a lot like…

"Cat?" The woman and Winn turned to him.

"Ralph didn't tell you?" Winn asked, pointing from M'gann to the woman with the AI's voice. So he rattled off the whole story again, fast as manageable. Catherine Grant, Grant Innovations, pretend AI, injury and here she was.

"Good to meet you, Miss M'orzz," Catherine held out her hand, and M'gann shook it, still not quite recovered from the surprise. "There will be plenty of time for us to fill in the blanks later, for now, as if our people's arrest wasn't enough, it seems the Danvers sisters and a few of their group have set off from Stein Labs and are on their way to investigate a possible test site for the Mist weapon. I'm afraid that, at this time, assisting them might need to take precedent over springing the others from lock up."

X

 **SOMEWHERE IN WAR QUARTER**

They'd needed to wait until they'd gotten just close enough before slipping on the altered masks and activating the body shields. The last thing any of them wanted to do was to create mass panic in a place like this. They also couldn't afford to tip their hand too quick. As they'd been told, the masks – currently hanging loose around their necks – would emit a small signal when they needed to be activated, so they'd made for the spot Doctor Stein had isolated on the map, presently the five of them, walking as cautiously as possible.

When the signal had been heard, trilling from the four masks at their disposal, they'd stopped off and taken in their surroundings before getting the masks on their faces and activating the shields. Barry and Eobard had merged into Firestorm and then they had slipped on the fourth mask.

"Everyone good?" Alexandra asked. Kara nodded, Seeker gave a thumbs up, and Firestorm nodded. "If the levels get too high and we need to retreat, we retreat, yeah?" she went on, looking to her little sister as she said it.

"Yeah," Kara confirmed before moving forward, leading the others to follow her.

"That must be it," Firestorm pointed ahead of them to an area which appeared to have been recently and hurriedly fenced off. Fences and barricades were common enough to the people of War that they hardly gave them any mind unless it directly prevented them from getting to their homes or any loved ones. No questions asked, they practically didn't see them, just course corrected around them. This fence was no exception, which could have been a problem for them, if they didn't want to appear overly interested in the area presently blocked off.

"Can you get us in there?" Kara turned to Seeker. She motioned for them to stay where they were as she moved off, walking along the path of the fence, keeping her head down as inconspicuously as possible, all the while feeling for openings they might have taken, on either side of the fence. When she returned again, she led them a little way away, then stopped them.

"Once we get across and to the other side of the fence, if the masks fail, we might not be able to cross back. Let me go first. If I don't come back for you after two minutes, then… the masks aren't ready." There was a readiness in her eyes, and still the others found it difficult to watch her go, counting the seconds as they went by. Ten, twenty, thirty… sixty… eighty…

When she finally returned, the two minutes very nearly spent, it felt like the rest of them had stopped breathing near the end. And seeing the look on her face, they might have believed the mask _had_ malfunctioned. But instead she had guided them through, passing an invisible breach which took them out of War, into Dark, then into Haven, and finally back into War, on the other side of the fence.

They stopped where they stood. They stopped, and they looked at the bodies on the ground, the faces of the dead… They couldn't look away if they tried. What could they do now? They had to do something, someone had to decide, they couldn't just…

"Can we get some samples, bring them back to the labs?" Firestorm asked.

"We need to let ARGUS know," Alexandra added.

"Right, let's make it quick and go back," Kara tried to keep her voice steady, even as she kept looking at the faces, looking for… friends, people she might have known, when she had been Kara Zeta of War Quarter.

X

 **RESISTANCE ARMY BASE**

"I'm right behind you, Gideon, just breathe," Rip spoke quietly as they went, feeling the rising anguish in the woman walking just ahead of him. They had been put into a vehicle, the four of them in their cuffs and chains, taken off exactly where they expected to be taken. The base. They hadn't set foot in this place for so long, but even as they drove through the gates, it was as though they'd never left. The three men had their own memories of this place, going back as far as their joining up. They remembered coming here.

Gideon would only ever remember Project Horus, and running. And as calm and collected as she could be on most occasions, giving no indication of trauma, when the vehicle had rolled through the gates, the familiar bumps in the road jostling them in their seats, she'd started to get worked up. Rip had been doing his best to keep her from losing control since then, even as he tried not to draw attention to her. Now they were being walked through, escorted along, and he knew it wasn't working, but it had to… It had to work. If she lost it now, that'd be the end of it.

"They're taking us into the special projects wing," Slade spoke just as quietly, behind Rip and ahead of Ralph. That much they could all have figured out before long, though it didn't make them any less apprehensive. The guards outside the door had opened the way for them, their escorts signalling for them to keep walking.

Coming through the wing, the three of them who had been part of these projects in the past recognized the place as one would any old recurring nightmare. But they also saw things along the way which drew their focus. The insignias on the walls, the same ones they had worn on their sleeves, identifying them for the projects they were a part of. Mercury for Slade, Horus for Rip and Gideon. It used to be there were only the two. There were now seven. They couldn't say what all of them represented and they almost didn't want to know.

The projects were still active, of course. So long as the war was on, they would always look for ways to tip the scales, and the war in War had never given signs of slowing, not once. So that meant more soldiers for Mercury, for Horus, for the other imprints. But what were they turning their soldiers into?

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	13. DAY 025 (vol 1, ch 13)

_Day 25 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 13_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **STEIN LABS**

The room was quiet. No one spoke. Stein and Wells and Laura Zeta continued to work on the adjusted masks, perfecting them as well as were ever going to be perfected until they could say for sure that they worked. Jax, watching them, did what he could to help, passing tools as they became needed. The whole thing was completely foreign to him, but not so much that he couldn't pick up on some things after a while. They worked, and worked, because it was either that or sitting there and wondering if the group who'd struck out with those first four masks were doing alright, if the masks had held up or if they'd malfunctioned and…

None looked more in need of this distraction than Laura Zeta. She kept a fairly straight face, but knowing her attachment to Kara, there was no doubt looking at her that, should she put down her tools and sit in silence, she would lose her composure in no time at all.

Suddenly, Jax's hand stopped as he reached for a tool he meant to hand off to Wells. He could feel something, just barely, he could feel…

"Seeker's back," he got up from his stool and ran off. Laura followed him at once, and then Wells followed, too, and finally Stein rolled in pursuit, as fast as he could.

Jax knew exactly where they were: His usual entry point in the hall. He arrived just as Firestorm split off into Barry and Eobard once again, next to the raven-haired breach hopper, presently stood bent forward, hands on her knees and coughing and breathing in, breathing out.

"Hey… hey hey," Jax skidded to a stop next to her, crouching to look at her face. "You okay?" Seeker nodded, though she kept on coughing.

"Let me see her, step back," Laura came through, pressing her hand at Seeker's back, feeling at her neck, from which the mask currently hung.

"Fine…" Seeker spoke between coughs. "I'm fine," she repeated. "Mist… sickness… in my head…" The coughing was subsiding now, though she was still breathing hard.

"She mentioned she got sick the first time she went into Mist, she didn't have a mask," Eobard recalled and provided. Now it started to make sense. Being in that place they'd gone, it had triggered memories. It was in her head. But it was over now, and she was calming down again. She looked around, at how the all stared at her, Wells and Stein included now. She sniffed, trying to pull herself together so they'd stop staring.

"Where are the Danvers?" Wells asked, and now that the crisis had calmed, Laura looked around, realizing for the first time… they weren't there, Alexandra, and…

"Where are they? Where's Kara?"

X

 **NEAR WAR'S ARGUS OUTPOST**

When Seeker had gotten them out of that fenced area, the plan had become that they would split up. Half of them would head back to Stein Labs, the other half would go on to the ARGUS outpost and the Waverider, and then both sides would have some samples, both sides would know about what they'd seen in that place, the dead… If they could have done it they might have brought back one of the bodies, but just couldn't be done. For one thing, they didn't know what touching one of them would do, or what bringing them outside the fenced off area would do.

Already when they'd made it back through Seeker's breaches, to the point outside the fence, she hadn't looked too hot, like she was freaking out about something, but she insisted she was fine, so they'd made the split, which had been easy enough. The sisters would go together, which left Seeker and Firestorm as the other team. They would go back to the labs. Striking out on their own, Kara had guided her sister on their way back toward the outpost. When they were far enough, they had pulled the masks down and left them around their necks.

"Kara…" Alexandra started, but her sister shook her head.

"I'm fine." After a moment, she sighed. "I thought… maybe I might know some of those people, but I didn't… I don't think I did." They hadn't looked at all the faces, there hadn't been time. All they could know for sure that they'd counted over twenty-five dead in there. "That place, where they all were. It was a school, I… I went there, not as a student, but sometimes the Zetas would take me there, so I would get to be with others my age. But those bodies we found… All adults, did you see?"

"Yes," Alexandra nodded as they walked. If there had been children in there… "This was no accident." She'd understood that, too. Were they supposed to be comforted that whoever had conducted this test had spared kids from being affected? Whatever happened next, wherever they deployed this thing next, when it wasn't a test anymore, what did they think was going to happen?

They had been up all night. It was only now, as they could see the sun was out again, that it really sank in. Between leaving from Main, and getting ready to go to Mist, being out there, then coming to War, everything… They hadn't ever really stopped, and no one said a thing, but sooner or later they'd have to stop, to rest… Maybe those still on the ship had gotten some sleep.

"They should have come by now. Something could have happened…" Alexandra shook her head, thinking of the team from the Waverider, who had never come to their aid. She looked to Kara but found her sister wasn't there. "Kara?" she looked around until she spotted her, running off somewhere.

Alexandra moved to follow her, seeing how she seemed to be running toward two people walking around, handing out food from large bags to a long chain of people standing in wait of these gifts before scurrying off. When the first of the two looked up, a girl still in her teens, and she saw Kara, she rushed up to meet her and locked her in a hug. The other one, a man in a strange coat of rags, had handed off his bag to another who continued the hand out before joining them. Kara had hugged him, too, and by the time Alexandra reached them, she could hear them talking about how they had wondered what had become of her, while Kara sounded so amazed at how the girl had grown.

"Where did you go?" the girl asked. When she spotted Alexandra, her hand went just over the red jewel around her neck until Kara reached over and pulled her hand down.

"It's alright, Evie, this is my sister." The girl and the man looked confused at this. "Short version of it, I figured out where I'd come from before I landed here, I went back, I found my mother and my sister. This is Alexandra," she pointed back before looking to her sister. "I told you about them, remember? This is Evelyn, and that's Carter." Now that she said it, Alexandra could see it now, recalling Kara's stories. The girl with the jewel, she called herself Mistral, and the other, with his strange coat, they called him Ragman. "Actually… you two might be able to help us."

With the food distribution well under way without them, Evelyn and Carter had agreed to follow the sisters. On their way to the outpost, Kara had told them about why they were here. The water from Mist, the weapon… She told them about the bodies they had found down at the school. By the time they'd made it to the outpost fence, the pair were all too glad to lend a hand if they could do it.

The agents at the gate wouldn't let the two unknowns through, and they'd been made to wait there until they were granted passage. They didn't look too pleased having to deal with ARGUS to begin with, but, maybe for the sake of what was at stake, they stayed outside the perimeter and promised to wait as Kara and Alexandra went through.

"Over here!" someone called, and when they turned they were joined by M'gann, J'onn, and Mike, returning from the ship.

"Where have you been?" Kara couldn't help but sound a bit angry.

"We ran into a problem. Slade, the Hawks, Ralph, they were with the resistance, all of them were in the projects except for Ralph. They were deserters, and on our way to you we were intercepted. The four of them were arrested and taken back to base, we couldn't stop it," M'gann explained. "Our orders are to keep working on the Mist water situation. Ralph and the others will have to wait."

"Like hell they are," Alexandra frowned, and the response had gotten a look of something like pride out of her little sister.

"We're not leaving them anyone behind," she chimed in. There was a beat, hesitation, but all the same, the others almost looked relieved; they wanted to go, too.

"I may have a way of getting them back," J'onn J'onzz spoke up. "We'll need to speak to your director," he looked to M'gann.

X

 **RESISTANCE ARMY BASE**

They'd been split up soon after being brought on to the base. Ralph had watched his teammates being led away, feeling he could have prevented this. When the team had been forced to split, he had been put in charge, it had been up to him to lead them, sure, but more than that it had been up to him to keep them safe. He was a deserter as much as them, but he couldn't pretend as though he had as much to lose. The three of them, they'd already gone through so much, becoming what they'd become, and now being back here… What would they do to them?

He had been brought into a small room, his cuffs joined to a bar bolted to the wall, and he had been left to wait. He could work out what would happen next in his head as though it had already happened. Someone would come along, reminding him why he had enlisted, why they were all fighting this war, and then he would be reminded of what a disgrace he was for abandoning them to fight some other people's battle instead of fighting this one. He would be told that he wouldn't see the light of day again until they decided what to do with a sorry case like him.

What would his response be, really? It wasn't as though he had left this place because he didn't care. He had found the others, fugitives he had devoted himself to apprehend and return to this place, and when he'd found them, he'd just stopped and realized… it was pointless. He had been chasing them, not because of any belief that they deserved to be brought back. He had been chasing them because he believed he needed to regain the resistance's belief in him, in his capabilities, to show he was still worth something to them.

But once he'd found the deserters, once he had them there in front of him and knew he could bring them back, he finally saw them as people, not as the means to an end. He saw people who'd probably had the same crappy kind of life any of them would, living in this place, who had grown up with such pride in the good things they had and the good things they did, who had enlisted and devoted themselves to being a part of something that was meant to bring more of that goodness to everyone who couldn't do the same.

He saw them as people who had been changed, only to realize they had as good as handed away their humanity and were now little more than weapons to their superiors. Weapons to use, weapons to toss aside when they had nothing left to give, so more weapons could be taken up… The battle never stopped, and in bringing them back, he wouldn't be helping anyone, no one who cared. But if he let them go… if he helped them, then… that would be a real difference... for the three of them, and maybe for him, too…

Being on the Waverider, the four of them had done so much more than people here would ever understand. Ralph was proud of the work he did there, as he knew Slade and the Hawks were, too. He knew he had made the right call. His superiors would probably ignore that, toss him in a dark hole and throw away the key, but he didn't care. He wouldn't die with regret.

X

It hadn't taken all that long before the Project Mercury team had come up with the means to restrain someone with speed like him, to keep him from just running away if they decided they needed to control him. They hadn't told Slade about this device, and he hadn't known about it, not until he'd tried to get involved in one situation where _they_ didn't want him to get involved. And then the inhibitor had been activated. That was when he'd known he'd needed to get out.

They had improved on the technology in the years since, going by the cuffs now locked at his wrists. He could just feel it, how his speed was just not his to access anymore. All this time, he had hated staying back on the ship, or within the ARGUS outpost gates, whenever the Waverider needed to cross into War. He had hated feeling like a coward, even though he knew it was the prudent thing to do. If he walked out into the city proper, if soldiers saw him, recognized him, they would attempt to bring him in, and he – knowing most of them were only doing their job, that they were on the same side once – would surrender himself peacefully if he couldn't run, because he wouldn't harm his fellow soldiers. Former fellows…

They took him into the Project Mercury labs. He used to work here, back when there was no project yet, back when they were just trying to make something, _anything_ happen, that might help them in this war. And then there'd been the accident, and he had gotten his speed. And then Mercury was born.

"How many others have you made like me?" he casually asked as they were marching him through.

"None." He turned, finding one of his former colleagues here.

"What are you talking about? Project Mercury…"

"Is failing," the woman told him. "Soon, it will be shut down, unless we are able to provide them with a viable new subject." Viable. How many subjects had they created? How many soldiers had they led to their deaths? "Lucky for us, now we have the original. You wouldn't mind if we took some samples, ran some tests, would you?" This woman used to be his friend. Now she looked like she'd gladly splice him open just to find what made him tick… and run.

"Wouldn't stop you if I did, would it?" he stared blankly at her.

"Really wouldn't, no," she signalled for his escorts to get him on to a bed.

X

The nearer they came to the doors of Project Horus, she was growing more and more of a tremor, and he was feeling it, walking right behind her. Their hands were bound at their backs, their arms, too, with something akin to a straightjacket. If they tried to 'hawk out,' there'd be no point. Their wings would not break through, and the pain… the pain would be unbearable. He knew. He'd had one of these on before, and so had she. And still he could see her, and he knew she was on the brink. She was too frightened, too confused. It was a fear response, she'd want her wings, and when she tried…

"Gideon, listen to my voice, hear me," he spoke quietly.

"Shut up," his escort nudged him.

"I'm doing us all a favor, if I can't calm her…"

"I said shut it!" his escort struck him with the butt of his weapon and he was sent sprawling to the ground, unable to stop his fall with his arms. When he fell, she turned and saw him there.

"Rip!" she cried, trying to go to him.

"I'm alright, don't…" he tried, but then _her_ escorts were on her, trying to force her onward. "Don't!"

It was too late. Her fear of this place was one thing. Her drive to protect him… that was a whole another. Even with her arms bound, she had her legs, her feet, and she a head, shoulders… She tackled her escort, kicked at her, knocked her weapon away, before rolling back on to her feet. The other soldiers were pointing their weapons at her now, and looking up from the ground, Rip could see as she tried to break from her binds, only to cry out with sudden pain and fall forward, at arm's length from him, if he could have only reached out.

There was nothing for him to do, and he knew it, and still… and still…

"Let me calm her, please… Gideon… Gideon, listen to me…"

" _I'll_ calm her," the downed soldier had gotten up again, striking Gideon and knocking her out. "Get them inside. It's time they met the new class."

X

The resistance army had always had something of a tenuous relationship with the ARGUS agents posted in their city. They were outsiders, no doubt to it, and it left some of the soldiers feeling as though they should not get involved. On the other hand, they could be counted on when the need arose, to protect the people, should a particularly hairy situation come up. In general though the rule went that they didn't intervene in affairs which didn't concern them, and that was what kept their relationship in existence.

When ARGUS Director Henry Heywood walked into the resistance base on that day, there was no doubt to anyone who saw him go by, flanked by a handful of his agents, just what brought him both to their quarter and to their base. They all knew about the deserters captured earlier that day, and they knew they were part of the breach team aboard the Waverider, a team directed by ARGUS.

Director Heywood demanded to speak with whoever was in charge of the prisoners. When the man presented himself, he had the posture of someone who wouldn't relent. These were their soldiers, soldiers who had deserted their posts, and it was well within their right to deal with them in what way they saw fit, no matter who they were now serving.

"Sir, much as I sympathize with your plight, I will remind you that my agents have come to your aid before, and will continue to, regardless of what happens today. That being said, I know you are aware of the other Earth, and the other quarters of _this_ Earth, as I know you are aware of what happens when some people find a way to cross from one to another. It requires swift action, action performed by my agents and by those aboard the breach ship Waverider, including the four you have apprehended today.

"Now, while Mr. Dibny, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Hunter, and Miss Gideon have left your service, they continue to service, in part, the people of this city. As we speak, a situation is arising, a volatile new weapon being created which may well have catastrophic consequences over your city. Hundreds, thousands may die, and your former soldiers, _our_ people, have been and continue to be essential in the fight to prevent this from happening.

"I formally request that you return them to us, that they may continue to do their work, unless you persist to rely on these _projects_ of yours, forgetting that you are of the resistance, that you are attempting to protect these people, not to hold down those who would stand shoulder to shoulder with you, under your command or not."

X

Ralph and Slade had insisted to carry their unconscious teammates from the base, as the director and the agents – whether they were in fact agents or only wearing the uniform – escorted them from the base and back toward the outpost gates. Ralph had Gideon, while Slade carried Rip.

"What did they do?" Kara had to ask, as she and her sister, both in uniforms borrowed out Agent Lane's quarters on the ship, walked along, looking back to the four WarRiders, conscious or not. The two unconscious Hawks looked like they'd been in a fight, and Slade, though he had refused assistance, looked just on this side of faint.

"Restrained them, by the looks of it," was all Ralph could say.

"They have my blood," Slade muttered. "They'd only started with the other tests when you came."

As they cleared the gates, the ARGUS agents watched them as they went, questions in their eyes at the sight of their director, though he paid them no mind and escorted the others back on to the Waverider.

"Thank you for coming for us, Director Heywood, although we…" Ralph started to say, until he and the others saw the man turn to them, taken with a red glow before he reappeared once more in the human form as carried by the one called J'onn J'onzz.

"It was the least I could do."

"I… Right," Ralph blinked. "Let's get these two to the med bay. We need to get back to…"

Just then, an alarm roared through the city, high over the familiar cacophony of War, and it ran deep into the bones of those who'd grown there.

"Call to Shelter…" Kara told those who didn't know what it meant.

"The attack is starting," Slade stared off, back to the city.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	14. DAY 027 (vol 1, ch 14)

_Day 27 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 14_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **STEIN LABS**

Some days she wanted to shed this persona she had taken on, didn't want to be Seeker anymore, or… at least for one day, at least for one tiny hour… five minutes… just to be Lena Luthor again. In those times, she would have wanted nothing more than to sit away in her old house again, with her mother and little more to her world but that which she was allowed to be aware of. Back then, she hadn't known that there could be war, that people could live in this constant fear, that there were other places, that there were things like… Mist…

Oh, she didn't regret what she'd made of her life, not in the slightest, not… not every day, almost never, just sometimes. She was proud of what she did as Seeker. But… but… Times would come, and something would seem to cut her down to the bone, and then… then the cover of being Seeker wasn't enough anymore, and she'd remember. The house… her mother… before her mother had been killed, and she had been tossed into this world she didn't know, forced to make something of herself that would protect her in a whole other way than the walls of her home and her mother's words had done for all those years.

She sat here now, in Stein Labs, holding the cup of tea Laura Zeta had handed her and told her to drink after that panic attack she'd had upon her return from the site of the test deployment. She sat, she drank, and in her head she heard her mother's voice, calling her name. _Lena… Lena… Who are you now?_

When the alarm was heard, the call to shelter, her hands fumbled and she nearly dropped the mug, her fingers splashed with hot tea which now loosened her hold, letting the mug slip and crash to the ground, breaking and spilling its contents at her feet. She remembered the first time she'd heard it.

Somehow she hadn't, not until she'd discovered the world outside her home for the first time. It really didn't seem possible that her mother had managed to insulate their walls so much as to keep her from hearing it before, but she had, and so Lena Luthor had been seventeen years old the first time she'd heard it, the same day she'd started off on her own, already thrown off balance by the trauma of her mother's death and her discovery of the war. And she didn't know, couldn't have.

Call to shelter… Might as well have called it 'Here in this unending string of bad days, somehow, it is about to get much, much worse, so you had best run and hide if you have any desire to carry on living.' Eight times she had heard it over the years, each one etched into her memories whether she liked it or not. She could have hidden, hopped off to Haven, or Dark, Light, off to Main Earth, to wait out whatever event had deserved the call, but she never did.

She stayed. She did what she could. She helped.

Today was the ninth, and she felt bolted to the ground, weighed with an aching fear in her body, in her lungs, and maybe it wasn't that she needed to be Lena Luthor in that moment. Maybe it was that she didn't feel she deserved to be Seeker if she was just going to stay and hide.

"Run… hide…" she mumbled, to no one and everyone. "Run…"

"What's that?" Jax asked, oblivious to her, more concerned with the thrumming sound of the alarm.

"Call to shelter," Laura told him, the concern etched in her face, while Doctor Stein tapped at one of the screens, bringing up what information he could find. As calm and collected as he usually was, now he saw this and he looked like a crack had split across his composure. When Laura saw what he saw, her hand moved to cover her mouth in silence, much as Wells watched and looked vaguely defeated.

"What is it? What's happening?" Jax asked, moving to look.

"The weapon," Seeker spoke quietly. "They did it, didn't they?" She looked at them, they looked at her. They didn't have to say it; of course they had. "What do we do now?" she asked.

X

 **OUTSIDE THE WAR ARGUS OUTPOST**

The agents in War were trained for this quarter, prepared for just about anything, but now this... They were paralysed, not for a refusal to act but an inability. There was no approaching the site of the weapon's deployment. Whatever masks they had were not yet equipped to get anywhere near. At present time, the only ones in possession of altered masks which _would_ protect them were the four sent out into the test site, and Stein and the others currently modifying more down at the labs.

What little they had been to learn from the test site told them plainly that, while going into Mist without a mask would make you ill, possibly scar you for life, or, if left untreated, end up killing you, this weapon, made of the Mist water… it was like a death snap, more treacherous than the air in Mist could ever be. And it was still out there, clinging to whatever unfortunate live thing came near it and bringing it down to perish. The test site had shown it plenty. Even the ground beneath the victims looked dead.

No one could go near the site of the hit, not until they had a mask with a shield strong enough to protect them.

"Where was it?" Kara asked, yanking the mask from around her neck and back on to her face, even as Alexandra did the same. "Where did the weapon hit?" The sisters looked back to Ralph and Slade expectantly. Their people back on the ship had to be telling them now, they could see it on their faces.

"West Quadrant Infirmary," Slade told them. Kara felt something halfway between defeat and rage. A hospital… Hospitals in War were practically hallowed ground, protected, off-limits. Going after the sick and the injured, it just wasn't done. And now they'd done it. Worse than that, they'd hit it, with something that would prevent them from helping, so long as they couldn't protect themselves, and now… whoever was in there… There'd just be no going back for them, would there?

"The masks…" Alexandra looked to Ralph. "There are more being made at Stein Labs." There was little else to say. The sisters were let back out the gates, where the younger Danvers led her sister in the direction of the place they called the WQI.

X

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**

Getting in touch with Doctor Stein and his small team had been easy. The schematics of the original masks were already at their disposal, but now they were being provided with what modifications they had already made, confirming that they indeed worked, that they had protected the four who had gone into the test site. They were modifying more now, but it would be slow going.

"Let me see," Catherine Grant had come to stand at the screen. "I may have spent the last few years playing computer generated… butler… If I get to be myself again, now's as good of a time as any to show you all what I can do. I just might be able to help you speed up the process."

"We're all going to have to mask up until this is over, aren't we?" Winn stated, standing at her side. "They're going to turn War into Mist 2."

X

 **OUT IN WAR QUARTER**

The call to shelter was not something any of them could ignore. There was no telling what had warranted its activation, if the threat was near or far. No telling if the enemy was around the corner. When the call came, all they could do was run and hide, waiting for the bells that would lift the order. It wouldn't mean complete safety, not in their city, but it would be a return to the day to day.

That day, when the call began to ring across the city, they couldn't know the what, the where, the why. They couldn't know the struggle happening to control it, to stop it. But they knew to run and hide.

If they should find themselves stuck out there, somewhere too far from home, far from a friend, somewhere they could be certain to find shelter, then there was one thing they were sure of: in time of need, there was no safer place than one of the hospitals.

"Come on, hurry!" the girl called to her brother and sister, urging them on. "We're almost there!" she grasped their hands as they reached her, and together they ran, the spire of the WQI there up ahead. All around them, others were running in that same direction, a circled mass descending upon the infirmary.

They only just had seconds to see them up ahead, only a glimpse of bodies on the ground. And then it was in them. And then they were gone.

X

The projected limits of the strike's effects had been as much as he could be given for a target to open his breach. Jax dashed through it, the mask around his face one of the latest modified by Stein and the others. His appearance on the scene, along with the breach he held open behind him, was enough to grab some attention, which was a good thing. There were people running all around him, on their way to take shelter… on their way to an unseen death.

"Hey, hey, through here, you'll be safe, I swear, come on!" he motioned to them. Maybe it was the mask that scared them off, or the appearance of the great blue hole in the air. Maybe it was that, as far as they were concerned, the one true place of safety lay ahead of them, not with this strange masked man. "The hospital's not safe! That's where they attacked! If you go to it you'll die! Listen to me, please!" he shouted.

"Jax!" a voice called to him, and turning his eyes to the sky he found his friend and teammate flying to him. The Atom had joined him.

"They won't listen," Jax motioned to the runners, his breach fizzing out of existence.

"Right," Mike frowned, looking around. After a moment, he pulled his helmet off, then turned to Jax and motioned to his face. With a brief hesitation, he deactivated and pulled down the mask. Technically speaking, they were safe here, the Mist strike shouldn't touch them, though they weren't far off from the limit, and there was no telling whether it would shift and spread. "Hey, hey, excuse me, sorry," Mike planted himself in the path of a woman running in the direction of the WQI and she stopped short, startled. "Ma'am, I'm terribly sorry, you can't go that way."

"Get out of my way!" the woman tried to push him out of the way.

"Listen, listen! The attack was on the WQI, the call to shelter is because of that. If you keep going that way, you'll die," he told her, plain and simple. She stared at him, then cut and ran past him. "Seriously?" Mike blinked, watching her go.

"I have an idea," Jax told him, pulling his mask over his face again. "It will either be really good or really bad. Just… stay here, okay?"

Another breach was opened, and this time Jax ran through it, closing it immediately. Mike turned and tried, again, to stop people from running toward the hospital, and again and again he failed. No wonder Jax had looked so discouraged.

When he began to hear an outcry building around him, he worried that the spread of the affected zone was nearing them, but that wasn't it. Some of the runners were slowing, stopping, and looking up. Mike turned to see what they were looking at, only to find about the most massive breach – he knew – Jax had ever opened. The intent behind it was not even to let anyone through it, but rather to let them see. Through the breach in the sky, they could see the WQI, see the bodies… see what happened when people came close.

After it closed, another breach brought back Jax, and then once again, he opened the way…

"This way to Stein Labs, let's go!" he shouted.

Now the runners heard him, and they listened. They ran through the breach, there on the other side to be welcomed by Seeker, who would guide them to some place to sit, and wait for the bells of release.

Hovering in flight, the Atom would be joined by Superman, and Valor, and then Firestorm, too. In the sky, visible to everyone, they would be able, at each of their designated points, to direct people running in search of shelter, ensuring that they did not head for the WQI. Some of them would be directed toward Jax and the breach into Stein Labs. Others would be shepherded to other shelter points, like the North, South, and East Quadrant Infirmaries, and even past the gates of the ARGUS outpost. This decision had not been made lightly, but allowances had to be made under the circumstances.

Not everyone would follow, which was to be expected. Some did find shelter at home or with friends and family, or in any other number of places. The goal was not to force them out of their homes, but then that was alright. The flying team had been equipped with upgraded masks to distribute where needed, and more would be coming, as Catherine Grant's contribution to the cause began to be put to use. She had managed to create a tool that would in essence infect the standard masks with the ability to modify themselves, like new programming introduced. Now, they only needed the masks and in no time they would be modifying. And then they could be distributed.

There wouldn't be enough, they realized this, not for all of the city, not yet, maybe not ever. And there was still a possibility of more attacks… and of whoever was doing this to find a way to increase the strength of their weapon, so that even the augmented masks no longer did their job.

They couldn't think about it. They just had to keep going.

X

Despite what they'd just been put through back at the resistance base, Ralph and Slade were out there now, working to help cordon off the infected area. Those working around the WQI had already been equipped with the new batch of masks, and it seemed they were all on edge, waiting for the moment where one mask or another might fail, waiting for the arrival of more runners. They'd have to act quick to stop them going forward.

A few had already been stopped, and to their dismay they had found that, without the masks, they had been pulled away only to show symptoms starting to creep up. Some became ill at once, one had ended up dying… All of these had been guided into an area nearby, where they were presently looked after by Mag, and J'onn, and some ARGUS medics, while those on the cordoning off team had started to pull back, widening their perimeter, hoping it might keep any others from getting far enough that they became ill.

"I could have sworn the last line was safe when it started," Nyssa told Patty and Rene, working alongside her. No one dared to suggest aloud that maybe the Mist was spreading, but they were thinking it. How could they not?

X

 **STEIN LABS**

While Seeker and Laura Zeta were working to direct all those brought to take refuge in other parts of the building, both Stein and Wells were watching the images from the small cameras they'd thought to mount on their team's masks. These showed the viewpoints of the Danvers sisters, along with their two friends, Mistral and Ragman. The girl was wearing the mask previously used by Seeker, while the man had gone in with nothing for protection other than his coat of rags. That he was still alive and well could be counted as both miraculous and impossible.

They were inside the WQI.

The images were in no way encouraging. There were bodies everywhere, the people… Patients, and visitors, staff, doctors, nurses… As the four of them walked through it all, foolishly seeking survivors, the air felt tight and empty, even from the safety of Stein Labs. They could hear the breaths of their masked friends. They were horrified, terrified…

When one of the viewpoints had broken away from the others, it had taken the others turning toward her for the men watching it all to understand what was happening. The young one, Mistral, had moved toward a pair of bodies on the ground, a man and a woman. Her hand reached like she meant to touch them, then stopped, knowing she couldn't and wishing so much that she could. Sobs filled the room, echoing out from the screen.

There was no need to ask. These were her family. The two men would be willing to bet she had volunteered to follow the sisters into this place, knowing deep down that they would be here, and that it would be too late to stop their deaths. Her friend the Ragman was now standing with her, crouching and putting his arms around her. For a few moments, there was only this, only a girl mourning her parents and a friend lending comfort, as much as one could.

"Doctor Stein?" He and Wells looked up to find both Seeker and Jax standing there. "There are no more coming in," Seeker told him. "What would you like us to do now?"

Bringing the people into the vast building had been an easy decision, despite the potential risks. Of course now that they _were_ here, all they would be left with would be the big question of what to do with them. There was no telling how long this would last. Could they provide for them if this stretched on too long? How long before they were forced to turn them out again to fend for themselves?

"Once they're equipped with masks, they can be helped back to their homes," Wells offered. "However many are left behind, we can provide for them. How many are there now?"

"Two hundred and nineteen," Seeker informed him.

"Right, then let's keep working," Stein turned to the other man, and they nodded to one another.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	15. DAY 029 (vol 1, ch 15)

_Day 29 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 15_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **TRIAGE ZONE**  
 **NEAR THE WEST QUADRANT INFIRMARY**

Mag knew the people here would likely never have seen any other aliens like her, who didn't pass for human, who couldn't shift their appearance to look human either. But then she'd been through something like this before, more than once, on the other Earth, and then in Haven, and on both occasions it hadn't been too long that she'd made her mark. Her being accepted hadn't always been a guarantee, and certainly she had run into problems back on Main, enough that she'd run off and ended up in Haven. But over time she had gotten to a place where she didn't fear what people would think of her.

She hadn't stepped out into War, beyond the gates of the ARGUS outpost, not until after the attack, when she had been needed. When she'd gone and seen it, really seen it, she'd thought of her home, the world she had come to Earth to escape. The memory was not one she wanted to hold on to, so she had done her best to devote herself to the task at hand. When they had mentioned triage, she had volunteered.

The people who were brought to her and the other volunteers, the ones who'd come about as close to the affected area without actually being in it, were in a bad state, as though death had already seen them, and reached for them, and no matter how far away they pulled them back, the arm of death would follow. It had already gotten a hold of several of them and carried them away. Their bodies were not long kept in the triage area. They'd be carried away, and then there'd be more people to take their places.

Mag had needed a moment, just a moment, to step out of the tented area and breathe. Those victims in there, they were all for the most part too far gone by the time they'd make it to the tent. It hardly seemed like triage when the overall state was 'near death, in need of care until then.' They would look at her, and she'd know they didn't see her, not really. There was no reaction, not one.

Standing outside the tent, she'd tried to clear her mind, but there was no clearing it, not here, not now. She hadn't been outside for more than twenty seconds when she heard a young woman's call.

"Help me! Please!" she shouted toward her, and Mag looked up in her direction. The young woman barely gave her time to say anything, only motioned for her to follow and then ran back the way she'd come. Mag sighed, then started to walk and jog off after the one who'd called for her assistance.

The young woman had gone to her knees next to another girl laid out on the ground near shallow pond. As Mag approached, she started to say how they had been running for cover when her friend had collapsed, and then she'd carried her away.

"Please, will you see if she's okay?"

"I… I'm not a doctor," Mag told her. She stopped where she stood. Something wasn't right, and it took her only a few seconds to know what. They didn't smell right. She had a heightened sense of smell, one of differences of her species to the humans of Earth, and the smell she got off these two was that they could not have been from here, from War. She hadn't needed to be here long to know what _they_ smelled like, and these girls didn't smell that way, they were… The one who'd come running, she wasn't from Main, or Haven… and the one on the ground… she wasn't even human either.

She must have been taking too long to approach. The human one had turned back to look at her and, seeing the puzzled look on her face, she'd fixed her with a look… It made the world around her feel just vaguely off center, but not so much that she was thrown by it, which appeared to take the girl by surprise.

"Why doesn't it work on you?" she asked, a little offended.

"Who are you?" Mag glared at her. She saw the girl on the ground move out of the corner of her eye, but no matter what she tried she could not have moved fast enough to evade the crackle of electricity that came from her, wrapping itself around her, like it wanted to bring her to her knees. It did, although as soon as the electricity stopped she started to pull herself to her feet.

"Where the hell are _you_ from?" said the girl rising from the ground.

"What do you want?" Mag asked firmly, refusing to engage them much further, not until she knew what was going on. Neither of them looked like they would answer, and before Mag knew it there was another young woman, this one emerging from the low pond, so impossibly that she might have been part of the water itself, or maybe its reflection. Now, this one, she was definitely from War.

"You. That's what we want," she said, and there was something about her that was familiar, like she'd seen her face before, or… That man who'd been helping them, back on the Waverider, she'd seen him on a screen, while they were communicating and…

It didn't matter now. What did matter was that they were closing in on her, the three of them, and the two who'd put on that play for her, whose powers didn't affect her as much, they unleashed a steady dose on to her, until the third could move in and…

X

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

 **SOMEWHERE…**

They weren't giving up. The more they tried, the more their captors did in response, they were learning, and that was good. Maybe if they kept on learning they would learn a way out of this place. But after that last 'experiment' they were neither of them in any shape to try another so soon.

"How's your arm?" Zari asked. Wallace, sitting against the wall with her, stretched and flexed his arm, the one he'd fallen on when he'd fakes his fall. He winced just a bit. It wasn't broken, nothing like that, he was mostly sure, although it still hurt.

"The fingers are worse," he sighed. She'd needed to redo his bandages after he'd climbed. All the old bandages had welled with the red of new blood. Now they were stinging even more than before, and there were no more clean bandages in the small first aid kit.

"Think they'd give us a TV if we asked nice? Or a deck of cards?" she wondered aloud.

"What do you play? Got any… War Quarter games to show me?"

"Oh, yeah. There's this one…"

She stopped, turning her head to look at him, when she saw… someone was lying on the ground across the room.

"Another one?" he startled, slowly managing to get to his feet and follow when she was already hurrying over to what he saw was a woman, or… Under her dark hair, he could see strange ridges across her face. "What…"

"I don't think she's human," Zari declared, as though he hadn't noticed already. She carefully reached out and touched the woman's shoulder, gave it a small shake to see if she'd wake.

She did wake, and, as soon as she saw someone bent over her, her hand shot out to push her away and try to run, only she was too weak to even manage to touch Zari, and then her arm fell back on the ground next to her.

"It's okay, you're safe with us… Well, except for the being in captivity, we're… friendlies. My name is Zari, that's Wallace. What's your name, do you… Do you understand me?"

"Yes, I understand you," the woman frowned. Her eyes moved around, finding Wallace, who waved at her, and then the rest of the room. "Where are we?"

"Not a clue. Like I said, we were kidnapped, and now I guess you were, too. Do you remember what happened to you?" Zari asked. The woman sighed, feeling at her head.

"Mag. My name is Mag. And what happened is I was helping with the triage, and there was this girl. She came for help, but… it wasn't right, she wasn't from War."

"War? You were in War?" Zari asked. She may have left it all behind, but it wasn't as though she could completely stop caring for it… the people, her people… Mag looked at her.

"Yes, weren't you?" she asked, like she assumed she would have, but then after a moment she sighed. "Main Earth… When did you leave War?"

"Wait, how do you know that?" Wallace asked. Mag looked at him.

"I can tell… Haven," she nodded to him, proving her point.

"I left a few years ago, but… what's happening out there?"

"Someone… some people… got their hands on water from Mist Quarter, really nasty stuff, poisonous, and they turned it into a weapon. We were trying to find it, to stop it, but we were too late. They hit this place… the WQI?" she looked to Zari, who looked as shocked as anyone grown in War Quarter. "So many people died, the people there, and then… the people who were running for shelter… I had to take a moment, take a breath, and that's when those girls got me."

"Girls?" Wallace sat up, and Mag nodded. "Did one of them make you lose your balance?"

"Yeah, well… she had to try harder with me, same with the other one, she could…"

"Shoot electricity?" he guessed again, and again Mag nodded. "I never saw the third one, only heard her voice, but those are the ones who took me, from Haven."

"The third one, she came out of the water… well, she came out of the water's surface." And though she didn't say it, in her head Mag knew this girl had to be related to Doctor Stein. She was starting to recover from the encounter, though still weakened by the full blast given to her by the vertigo girl and the shocker girl. As she sat up, Zari helped her.

"Are you hungry? We still have some things from the last tray they sent in." Wallace was already getting up to retrieve it, and when he brought the food before Mag, she looked at the two of them like she wasn't sure she should take it.

"It's fine, we both ate. Go ahead."

As she ate, the others told her about everything that had happened to them so far, from their own takings, to arriving in this room. They told her about how they'd tried to escape before, and how that had ended. They told her about what they'd been discovering about the room, what they'd understood, as best they could. Having a third person with them after being just the two of them for a while, it felt both strange and sort of reinvigorating. They had someone else; maybe together they could find a way out.

"So… the psycho girls took you from Haven, me from War, and then those guys with the big guns took you from Main," Mag recalled, and they nodded.

"We think we're on Main now," Wallace added, without going into the whole cookie wrapper thing, and by the look on Mag's face he thought she might be able to sense that too somehow.

"But why us? I don't know you two, did you know each other before?"

"No, we didn't," Zari told her. "Wait, that whole thing in War, that has to be what Jax and Mike went to help with, did you see them?"

"Yes, they were with us, on the Waverider," Mag confirmed. "They said they had a team, back on Main, were you one of them?"

"Yes, well, not one of the ones who go in the field. I'm a reporter. But I do my part. The rest of them have their hands full on Main right now, don't know if they'll be able to come looking for me."

X

 **ARGUS HEADQUARTERS**

Iris had stepped away from her station, moved to the small room where she'd slept the night before with the tablet in her hand. She needed a moment, needed to pull herself together.

She'd managed to contact a friend, back in Haven, who could look into surveillance from yesterday morning, possibly find trace of her brother. And they'd come through. She hadn't known what she'd be watching, she'd just started the video, and then there he was. Wallace… her baby brother… She'd gasped, frozen in her seat. He was walking out of his apartment building, going about his day. It wasn't real time, skipping minutes but showing his journey from home to a building. There the footage had switched to security feed inside.

Just as she'd seen the video for that missing reporter, where she had been captured by a pair of breachers, she had seen her brother as he got into an elevator. The footage from inside had cut out before anything happened, but then the video had cut back to a hallway, and there she had seen him get carried off by three women, two of them carrying him between them while the third opened a breach with a small device, just as the men had taken Zari Tomaz. Then they were gone, the video ended.

Sitting on the bed now, her hands were shaking. To this point, maybe she still believed deep down that her brother was just not responding because he was upset with her for some reason. And if not that, then she thought he might have thrown in with their father for some inexplicable reason, but this… Where had they taken him? What had they done with him? Was he still alive?

"Iris?" She looked up, finding the girl, Ruby Arias, standing there. She'd been sitting with her this morning, along with Lisa Snart. Iris still needed to assist with the teams in the field, the breacher invasion, but she had told Zari's friends she would help them find her and so she had, letting the woman and the girl near her, so they could investigate where they could. When the reply from her friend in Haven had come through, they'd been off finding something to eat. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ruby," she told her, though her voice didn't sound that convincing to her, so she could only imagine what it sounded like to the girl, who'd already shown herself as very observant.

"Is it about your brother?"

"Yeah," Iris admitted, wiping at her face. "He was really taken. I just saw it," she gestured to the tablet, and before she could say anything, Ruby had picked it up, started watching the video. Iris didn't have the energy to stop her.

"Do you think they're working together? The people who took Zari and the people who took your brother? They both have that thing to open breaches."

"Maybe," Iris sighed.

"Can you… can you track those?" Ruby wondered.

"Probably, most times. Even if I could, right now there are so many of them opening everywhere, with the breachers, I couldn't say where they ended up, no guarantee there'd be footage to show them coming out of it, and a breach is just a breach, it doesn't say 'four people went through' or anything. They could be anywhere."

"Well… it's better than nothing, isn't it?" The girl was really trying, Iris had to hand her that. She had to be seeing how upset she was, same as she would see her mother and her friends were, too.

"Yeah, I guess it is." With a breath, she managed a smile. "Did you find your snacks?" she asked, and Ruby produced a few packets of cookies from her pocket. She handed one off to Iris, who accepted them gladly. "Are you doing alright, your mom being out there?" she asked, realizing it couldn't have been easy for her either, being this young and watching her mother head off into danger.

"I'm okay," Ruby replied with a nod, although with the way her head tipped forward, there was the rest of her answer. She was worried. "I've sort of known about it for a while, even if she never said anything. And I like knowing that she's out there trying to help people."

"What about your dad, is he…" Iris couldn't help but inquire. Ruby shrugged and shook her head. "Oh… I'm sorry, is he…"

"He's not dead, not that I know of, he's just not… They were young, I guess, when they had me. And he just wasn't…"

"Ruby?" They looked up to find Lisa Snart at the door. "I was wondering where you'd gotten off to. You really shouldn't run off like that."

"Sorry," Ruby got up from where she'd been sitting at the foot of the bed.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be back out there in a bit, we can look into that idea you had," Iris told her, and the girl smiled, following her mother's friend. Before they went, Iris had a thought. "Lisa?" They stopped and turned back to her. "Your brother, on the Waverider… If I sent him some footage, images of some breachers, think he might be able to let us know if he's ever seen them or anything, him and all those on that ship?"

"Yeah, absolutely," Lisa nodded. "Just get him on the ARGUS line."

Lisa and Ruby had left her to her 'room' for a moment, and she'd put together the videos and images of the five breachers responsible for the takings of Zari Tomaz and Wallace West. Through the network, she'd been able to send it all through to both the jump ship and the main ship. All of them were so busy, handling these situations both here on Main and over in War, but with any luck they would know something that could point her in the right direction.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	16. DAY 031 (vol 1, ch 16)

_Day 31 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 16_

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**  
 ** _THE TIME SHIP WAVERIDER  
_ _(GRANT INNOVATIONS designation)_**

The bells had tolled across War Quarter, reassuring the citizens that the call to shelter was now lifted. Those who'd taken refuge inside Stein Labs were now making their way back out into the city, heading home again in what felt like a new world. If the hospitals weren't safe anymore, then what did they have left? They made for home, all those of them with adjusted masks still wearing them around their necks, in case they'd need them again. The resemblance to the people of Mist, save for the overall sickly appearance, was not lost on the expanded Waverider team as they started making their way back to the ship, little by little reassembling on the bridge.

Rip and Gideon had awakened not long before, down in the med bay. Having no recollection of their return to the ship – and their rescue from Project Horus – it had taken a moment for them to take in the fact that they were back on the Waverider, both of them, and that they were safe. Rip had moved to stand from the reclining chair first, coming to stand at Gideon's side as she sat up. She'd reached for his hand and he'd given it over, grasping as much as she did.

She still remembered the panic she'd felt… so vividly. She remembered wanting so much just to stop them hurting him but being restrained and then when her wings had sought to come from her back and been blocked by the harness… The burning at her back was gone now, and there was no threat, to him or her, but still the wings opened up in the middle of the med bay, just for a moment, and then with a breath they had folded away once again.

"How did we get back?" she asked him.

"I haven't the faintest idea," he admitted. "But we're back, and that's all that matters. I won't let them get their hands on you again, I promise."

"I won't let them on you either," she vowed back.

They had gone to the bridge after that, and they'd come to meet with both Winn and the previously encountered (briefly) Catherine Grant, the one they'd believed artificial for all this time. All this time, Cat the AI had been something of an unofficial twelfth member of their team, and now they found that for however much they had come to care for this disembodied voice, _she_ had cared for them even more. They saw it in her eyes, in the relief she felt for the Hawks' return and recovery.

"I feel somewhat responsible for the four of you being taken. If not the incident as we came into the quarter…" she started to say, but Gideon had shaken her head, taking the woman's hands in hers.

"It was not your fault, Miss Grant, not at all. I can't believe we never knew you were with us all this time," she told her with a smile.

"As it was my intention for none of you to know, then all I can say is that I am very good at what I do," Catherine shrugged. "Now, there is the matter of the attack on the city." The Hawks looked plainly blindsided. "Yes, a lot has happened while the two of you were recuperating. The others should be returning soon, but I will bring you up to speed."

The woman from the future had only just finished telling and showing them all that had been happening outside while they were unconscious when the first of them walked back on to the bridge. Ralph had looked exhausted as he'd come along, leading Slade, Patty, Rene, and Nyssa behind him, though when he saw the Hawks awake and well standing there, he looked momentarily refreshed.

"You're alright?" he asked, approaching them, Slade not far behind, the WarRiders reunited once again. Rip and Gideon each nodded.

"How did we get back here?" Rip asked. It was the only thing they still didn't know about.

"Well, if anyone asks, Director Heywood came down to War and personally pleaded for your release with the resistance and got you back," Ralph revealed.

"And… if _we_ ask?" Gideon asked.

"A shapeshifting alien, with the director's permission, assumed Heywood's shape and pleaded for your release with the resistance and got you back without having to pull the director away from the situation back on Main," Ralph restated.

"What situation in Main?" Rip couldn't help but inquire.

"An increased influx of breachers causing trouble across the city," Slade told him.

"Leonard and the rest of the team are there now, along with ARGUS and a number of heroes, all working together to handle it," Ralph added. "The best we can do for them is to continue dealing with this Mist weapon until it's been stopped."

"We should continue to alter masks and distribute them as needed," Catherine spoke up now, and they turned to her. "There is some concern that, after this attack, and now that we have found a way to adjust the masks to compensate for the weapon's effects, these people, whoever they are, may make additional changes that would once again make the masks and their shields ineffective against the fumes."

"Miss Grant, it is… a surprise to meet you," Ralph stated, only now getting the chance to address their secret passenger.

"There will be time to get better acquainted later," she told him, as more of the group joined them. M'gann and J'onn led the small group, including Barry, Eobard, Roy, Rory, and Mike. M'gann, like her teammates before her, had immediately gone toward the Hawks, finding them awake, and she hugged them both.

"Did you impersonate Director Heywood, really?" Gideon had asked.

"Actually, it was J'onn," M'gann told them, looking back to the man, who could only bow his head to them in greeting.

"Thank you," Gideon told him. "I only wish we'd been able to do something, to help you out there." The mention of what had been happening out in the city, the memory of what they had seen, sat with a weight on their shoulders, in their faces, they could see it plainly.

No matter where they had been, no matter what part of the effort they had found themselves working with, it had not kept them from seeing the whole scope of it. Whether they had set foot in the quarter for the first time in their lives or if they had been here occasionally, dealing with some breacher or another, they had all gotten to really see and feel some of what living in War Quarter could be like, and much as they could want to try and help them, they knew there was only so much they could do. But then this, the attack… It was a matter out of the ordinary, and still in some way it was also part of the reality of the people in the city, because if it wasn't this, then… it could be and had been any number of things before.

This did not take away from the singular horror that they had witnessed in the unleashing of that new weapon. The victims of the day would not be counted right away, but all that they had seen already indicated that they would number in the hundreds. To think of how many more might die if they did not put a permanent stop to this…

"I think now will be as good of a time as any for a few hours' rest," Roy declared, and the others looked at him. "There is never going to be a _good_ time. But we have all been up much too long to be helpful for much longer. Everyone needs to get their strength back together."

"He's right," Slade agreed.

"I'll get some cots set up down in cargo," Winn volunteered, soon joined by Patty and Rene and some of the others.

When the next bunch of their group – the Danvers sisters, Seeker and Jax – walked on to the bridge, they were accompanied by the pair of Kara's old friends, Evelyn and Carter, who looked around at the ship with understandable awe.

While Seeker and Jax had been seeing to the evacuation efforts with Stein Labs, the others had been inside the WQI, and it showed on their faces. Everything they had seen, all the victims they had found inside that place, not a single survivor… Evelyn's mother and father…

"Have we found out… anything… to keep this from happening again?" Kara asked, a tremor in her voice of anger and tears.

"Doctor Stein and the rest of them, they were trying to find something, but with the attack…" Jax told her. "I can go and get them?"

"I'd certainly like to meet them," Catherine told him. With a nod, Jax had disappeared off through a breach.

"Is everyone back besides us?" Alexandra asked.

"We haven't done a head count yet, but I think so," Ralph replied, looking around at those still on the bridge and trying to count them up, along with those who'd wandered off, either to their quarters or the cargo bay. There were so many of them aboard the ship, most of them not of his crew, and new ones were still coming along, like Mistral and Ragman…

"There's a message on the ARGUS line," Catherine spoke up now, and those of them of the ship couldn't help but think of that voice coming through the Waverider, back when they had believed it was an artificial intelligence.

"Who from?" Ralph asked. Catherine looked at the screen, frowning.

"Iris West," she replied. "Doesn't ring a bell, but it says here she's been assisting ARGUS with their breacher problem."

"Well, what does she want?" Again, there was a moment where no one spoke, waiting as Catherine Grant inspected the contents of the message. Some of the others standing around the bridge did try to go and see from behind her.

"According to Miss West, there have been some cases of breachers abducting some people. She's sent us recordings of the two kidnappings they've been able to track so far, asking if we are familiar with any of the breachers and their potential whereabouts.

Just as Catherine put up the first of the two recordings for them to see, a breach brought Jax back on to the bridge, with Doctor Stein, and Harrison Wells, and Laura Zeta behind him. They had been about to tell the four of them what they'd just learned, but then the just returned Jax, along with Mike, had seen the woman in the recording and stepped up for a closer look.

"Zari?" Jax stared up at the image of his friend walking and being pursued by two men. "What is this?" he asked.

"You know this woman?" Slade asked.

"Yeah, she's a friend of ours, a teammate. She's a reporter," Mike told them. "They say she was abducted," he turned to tell Jax, even as he saw, like they all saw, the moment where one of the men shot fire from a gun, before the other man squeezed the air out of her and the unconscious Zari was taken through a breach. "When was this?"

"Yesterday. Then there's this one… Miss West's younger brother."

Again, those on the bridge watched, as the young man went and got on an elevator, only to be carried away shortly after by a trio of young women.

"Pause that," Doctor Stein spoke up, just as Wells requested the same. There was no need to ask if the two of them had recognized someone in that image, it was clear on their faces, but still they had to find out what they knew.

"Who are they?" Alexandra asked.

"I've seen her before," Kara squinted at the image, indicating a short-haired brunette. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it really felt like she'd seen her before.

"You have," Laura Zeta had told her daughter, her voice quiet as she looked to her colleague.

"Lily… my daughter," Doctor Stein spoke as though he'd just aged ten years. "Calls herself Mirror Mistress."

"Livewire," Wells spoke just as heavily. He pointed to the second of the women on the recording. "Mine calls herself Livewire."

"Your daughter?" Ralph asked, and he nodded.

"Jesse… I swear I had no idea she would… She was upset, these powers… What has she gotten herself involved with?"

"Do you recognize this other one?" Nyssa asked, pointing to the third girl, the blonde.

"No," Doctor Stein replied, and Wells shook his head.

"And you didn't know the two of them knew each other?"

"I've never seen her before, or him, until I came here," Wells told her, indicating Stein, and the same went for him.

"What about these men?" Ralph indicated the pair who'd captured Jax and Mike's friend. They didn't know them either. "How about the rest of you?" he addressed all those on the bridge, but they had nothing, not the crew, nor those who'd come to help.

"They look like Haven," M'gann looked at the men.

"That one's from Dark, I'd wager on it," J'onn added, pointing to the unknown blonde. Then he paused, looked around. "Where are the others?" he asked.

"Went down to set up cots in the cargo bay so we can all get some sleep," Mike told him, although it was starting to seem more and more unlikely that would ever happen at this rate.

"Attention," Catherine's voice resonated through the ship. "Would everyone return to the bridge immediately? No need to run, but it wouldn't hurt not to keep us waiting. Thank you."

"Still so strange," Gideon shook her head in awe, looking at the woman.

The dispersed passengers had returned to the bridge, all of them with questions in their eyes about the request. As they would come, Ralph would explain about the message through the ARGUS line, ask them if they were familiar with the breachers, but again none of them knew them, none except the two fathers standing in silence.

"Is that all of you?" J'onn asked those who'd returned. Winn looked around at everyone on the bridge, confirming that, yes, these were all the ones who had returned. Then he frowned, like he was starting to realize something.

"Wait, where's…"

"Mag," J'onn spoke her name, his suspicion confirmed. "She was with me, at triage, and then she wasn't. I thought she'd moved to a different area, or returned on her own."

"You don't think she…" M'gann looked back to the images of the breachers.

"Where were the others taken from?" J'onn asked.

"Main, and Haven," Catherine told him.

"So they could have hit War, too," Gideon pointed out, looking concerned now. They had brought Mag into this, _she_ had convinced her to come. If something happened to her… "I want to go look for her. She might still be around here somewhere, it doesn't mean she was taken."

"Just because we got you back once, we might not be so lucky again," M'gann told her.

"She doesn't have to go," Rip spoke up, and for a second Gideon looked ready to argue this, but then she saw the look on his face and she knew what he meant. "Cat… Miss Grant… Are you able to access the resistance army's network? Specifically, their surveillance…"

"What do you think?" Catherine got to work.

The bridge was tensely silent as they waited. They didn't have to wait long. Once she'd gained access, she knew exactly where to look. Near the triage tent. If they could just find her there, they could follow her, and maybe find she _was_ still out in the city, though they couldn't see why she would be or where she would go…

"There," Catherine spoke, as they all saw Mag stepping out of the tent, standing there for a moment, breathing… breaking from the sights inside the tent. And not long after, running into view, came a blond-haired girl, and everyone watching collectively tensed. They recognized her from the footage of Wallace West's abduction. "No sound, I'm afraid."

Even without sound they could figure out plenty. The blonde looked distressed, calling for Mag before running back the way she'd come. Mag had gone after her, and as the footage shifted, they saw what she would have found upon following the girl. Someone, laid out on the ground. They knew who _she_ was, too. Jesse Wells, seemingly unconscious. Her father, watching this, was unreadable.

As the blonde had returned to the prone Jesse, Mag had followed, but then she'd just stopped. They couldn't see her face very well, but her posture said it all. She sensed something wasn't right. The blonde had turned to look at her, and then Mag appeared to almost lose her balance for a second. The blonde looked taken aback by this, spoke.

"Why… why doesn't it work on you," Gideon spoke slowly, squinting at the screen, reading the girl's lips.

Suddenly, the girl on the ground had rolled into a crouch and thrown out both her arms, sending long streaks of electricity to coil around Mag. Wells watched his daughter, couldn't look away, thinking… if he'd only known the truth, how she'd really gotten her powers, maybe he could have protected her better, maybe she wouldn't have become this.

The electricity was strong, but Mag had resisted it, and Jesse didn't seem to like this either. Gideon squinted again as they could see Jesse say something.

"Where the hell… are you from?" she interpreted.

All along, before it had happened, Doctor Stein knew exactly where his own daughter had to be in all this, if she really was with them. Near where Jesse Wells had been lying, there was a small pond, water rippling. And as they watched, out popped his Lily from the water's surface, coming to stand with her partners. The way they responded to her, she appeared to be in charge. They couldn't see what Mag had said, but they got Lily's response well enough.

"You… That's what we want."

After that, Mag had no chance. Whatever the blonde could do, she must have given everything she had in order to bring Mag down… and so did Jesse Wells, the energy flowing out of her and into Mag with so much ferocity that anyone of lesser fortitude would have just burned. Finally, Mag had fallen limp to the ground, and the trio had carried her off, through another breach, leaving the field clear.

The bridge of the Waverider was silent. All they could hear was the ship around them.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	17. DAY 033 (vol 1, ch 17)

_Day 33 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 17_

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**  
 ** _THE TIME SHIP WAVERIDER  
_ _(GRANT INNOVATIONS designation)_**

After discovering Mag's fate, being kidnapped by Lily Stein, Jesse Wells, and the unknown blonde, the rattled crew aboard the Waverider had been sent to get some rest. Whether any of them would manage it of their own free will or if their exhaustion would win out, it didn't matter. As though the problem in War wasn't reason enough for them to need their wits about them, this turn of events made it downright vital. So they had gone, and to the best of each one's ability, they had gone to sleep, for the better part of four hours.

They were awakened again by the sound of Catherine Grant's voice, summoning them to the bridge in haste.

She had returned to her secret – now not so secret – quarters in the belly of the ship, now that the hole in the wall had been fixed, there able to have her old screens and controls at her disposal, should she be pulled out of bed in a hurry. As sound a sleeper as she could be, she was well known to wake on a dime at the sound of an alert. When it came, she only had to open her eyes and turn to see what was happening. When she saw it, she hurried to the bridge, summoning the others on the way.

"What's happening, was there another attack?" She looked back to find the first of them were arriving, following behind her. In the lead was the one who called herself Black Siren. Kira? No…

"Kara, yes?" she asked, and the young woman nodded. "The resistance army has become aware of our intrusion in their system earlier. There are soldiers on their way to the ARGUS outpost, no doubt to have a few less than friendly words."

As the various crew members and visitors trickled in from both the cargo bay and private quarters, the news of the army's approach made its way from one to the next, until all were gathered, and all had words on the matter, piling one over the other, until they were brought back to attention by Slade's call to silence. When this was achieved, he'd turned to their interim leader.

"Thank you," Ralph told him before addressing the gathered men and women. "Now, we knew there was a chance the resistance wouldn't take too kindly to us borrowing their resources. And despite our previous interaction with them, you have to understand these people are not the enemy. They're the good guys… good guys who were born and raised in this hell hole and have lived day to day with the constant fear of what will happen if the tide were to turn against them.

"They joined the resistance army, like I did, like Slade, and Rip, and Gideon joined it, to make a difference and, if they couldn't turn control back on the people of War, to ensure that the enemy never gained a stronger hold on that control. The best thing we can do now is to get them on our side, to work with us and put an end to this problem which _will_ absolutely cause the enemy side to trample this city and its people until there's nothing left of it and allow them to win. That can't happen, and on that, if nothing else, we will all agree."

"How long until they get here?" Rip asked. Catherine looked at her screen.

"I can estimate they will reach the outpost gates in approximately ten minutes," she told him.

"Then we have ten minutes to figure out what to do next," Gideon declared.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

 **AT THE ARGUS OUTPOST GATES**

 **TEN MINUTES LATER**

They could have sent any number of their enlarged crew to meet with the incoming resistance soldiers. They could even have sent J'onn J'onzz, once again disguised as Director Heywood. They didn't. Instead, waiting just outside the closed outpost gates, there stood Ralph Dibny, Slade Wilson, Rip Hunter, and Gideon. They stood as the soldiers they had been, once, quietly awaiting whoever would come to lay down inquiries over the network intrusion.

They understood the risks. Certainly plenty of their crew had attempted to ensure they did, because after what they'd gone through the day before, after the effort the rest of them had gone through to get them back, having them face the resistance seemed like folly, begging for them to be taken in again, never to be seen again. But then it was also the right thing to do. It showed the importance of the actions they had carried out, and the problem they should all be cooperating to solve.

"Here they come," Slade spoke evenly as they spotted them in the distance. "I count nine."

"Nine," Ralph nodded in agreement.

"Any familiars?" Rip asked.

"It's the general," Gideon declared. Even from a distance they could recognize that walk anywhere, after she'd lost her leg in a previous attack, very nearly broken her back… Even after all this time, even after they'd left this place behind and joined the Waverider, they had respect for the woman like maybe no other, and it showed in how their postures shifted, straightened. If they could convince her, and the chances might have been most solid with her involved, then this day could have the potential to really advance their cause.

As the general and her soldiers finally came to stand across from the four WarRiders in wait, there were a few moments where no one spoke, moved… They waited.

"I would tell you to be at ease, but then you are no longer under my command," the general addressed the four former soldiers in front of her.

"Despite the forces within the resistance which forced us to choose desertion, you remain the face of all we had joined to stand for, General," Ralph spoke plainly. The woman looked at him, holding his gaze for a few seconds before facing the four of them again.

"Then at ease." They complied. "You stand here now, so you'll know why we are here."

"Yes, General," Ralph told her.

"Care to explain yourself?"

"As you will be well aware, a new weapon has fallen into enemy hands, which they have used in a test strike at a school in South Quadrant and in an open attack on the WQI several hours ago. My crew, with a number of allies, has been attempting to get to the bottom of it, to stop the weapon from being used. We were too late, we failed, but we continue to work to protect the city from this growing situation. However, in the midst of all this, we became aware of another problem, of civilians being abducted by breachers. One of those was a member of our team. In order to discover that she had indeed been taken by these same people we needed…"

"Our network," the General finished for him, and he nodded. "And?"

"And we confirmed it."

"Yes. After we became aware of the intrusion, we were able to isolate what surveillance was accessed. We've seen your crewmate's abduction." They stood in silence, waiting to hear what she'd say next. "Now, rather than coming to us and asking if we might help you locate your missing crewmate, you broke into our network and found what you needed for yourself, and knowing what the four of you were put through yesterday I can understand your apprehension toward us. And I do. Be that as it may, you can see why I would take some offense to this, as would the resistance as a whole."

"Yes, General," Gideon spoke, and as the woman turned to look at her it was to wonder if her choice to speak now was merely born out of her respect of the woman or if she had come to be in any way aware of how her own case, the outcome of her participation in Project Horus, her lost memories, had weighed on the General. One way or the other, as the General had looked to the one they called Hawkgirl, she looked mildly remorseful, and this translated into just enough of an opening for the WarRiders to make their case and potentially bring this encounter to a place where both sides could be satisfied.

X

 **ON THE WAVERIDER**

It was hard not to think about what might be happening outside the outpost gates while the rest of them remained on the ship, but then while Ralph and the others were attempting to douse some flames with the general, they still needed to figure out their next steps, now more than ever.

Stein, Wells, and Zeta had gone back to the labs when the rest of them had gone to get some rest. Whether or not any of them had managed to go to sleep, too, they couldn't say for certain. They had gone, promising that they would continue to look into what they had gathered and used to start their research and that they would keep them all appraised of any developments they would make. They hadn't gotten back to them yet, but then they might not have found anything yet… Most likely they were getting some much needed rest.

"Let's get to the Mag situation first, as I'm sure it will be on everyone's mind," M'gann addressed all those standing around the bridge.

"What if they took her in order to distract us?" Rory asked. "So we don't stop whatever they try to do next?" No one wanted to say it, for what it could potentially mean, but then it didn't make it any less true. "If we derail everything else to find her, hundreds more could die. But if we don't find her…"

"Can we spare anyone?" Patty asked.

"By all accounts, there are already people looking for these abductees. It might be in everyone's best interest if we informed them of Mag's taking and let them handle it, while the rest of us carry on here." They looked to M'gann, presently in charge while Ralph was down at the gates.

"Miss Grant, if you would forward the information and footage regarding Mag, along with the available intel on Miss Stein and Miss Wells over to this Iris West back on Main?"

"Consider it done," Catherine got to work.

"Now we need to figure out our next move." There was a pause before anyone said anything, as though each one of them needed a moment to process the fact that their circumstances forced them to push aside the fact that one of them had been taken, to let someone else look into it, because things were too dire for them to focus on anything else. It could have been any one of them… Finally, Winn had been the one to break the silence.

"I'd say we need to find a cure, but what good will it do if it kills you that fast."

"Not all of them died on exposure. Some were still alive, brought to triage where myself and Mag and others tried to help them," said J'onn. He paused. "They all died in the end, but if we had any way to treat them, they might have survived."

"Unless they were too far gone no matter what we gave them," M'gann sighed.

"It'll be worth a try, but really their best chance now might be immunization. Is that even possible, knowing they could alter the formula, keep making it harder and harder to get rid of?"

"We need to find them," Seeker cut in, and they turned to her, finding her looking uneasy. It was unclear if she'd actually gotten any sleep; it definitely didn't look as though she did. "Find them, find their supply, take them in, destroy the weapon, stop them from making more. That is what we need to do," she firmly stated, drawing a return of silence across the bridge for a beat.

"Sounds like a solid plan to me," Catherine Grant remarked, tipping her head to the breach hopper. "But then so is immunization, treatment, whatever we can put together to protect the people."

"So we have two points to follow. The tracking and the research," M'gann indicated Seeker and Winn for one and then the other.

"Stein Labs should be able to help on the research. And I would be happy to assist them in whatever way I can," Catherine stated. "I imagine we'll need a few others able to go into the city if need be," she added, eyes scanning the room for any who might volunteer. Barry and Eobard had raised their hands together, as though collectively aware that their Firestorm partner was as ready for this as they were.

"You'll need people who know this place, the city and the people both," Carter declared, looking to Evelyn, who nodded in agreement. "We'll help you."

"Count me in," Rene pitched in. "If you need anything from ARGUS, you'll have me to facilitate."

"Anybody else?" M'gann looked around. J'onn stepped forward. "Good. Then the rest of us will see to the tracking," she went on, turning back as though she expected her teammates to return any second now. "And hopefully we will have the resistance army to back us up."

"This should be exciting for you," Winn had told Catherine Grant as the team headed to Stein Labs prepared to be breached over. She turned to look at him. "Not _exciting_ , maybe, but I mean in the sense that you haven't set foot off this ship in a long time…"

"I never said I didn't. Just because you weren't aware of it, that doesn't mean it never happened." He stared at her. "Do you remember that time, in Haven, when the ship wouldn't take off for over a day and you were stranded?" His eyes bugged out.

"I spent _sixteen_ hours trying to do repairs," he protested, and she smiled. "And then… it finally worked… That's when you came back, isn't it?"

"Look on the bright side, Agent Schott. Next time I feel like some shore leave, you'll get to sleep in."

X

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

 **ARGUS HEADQUARTERS**

Reaching out for leads had been a shot in the dark. With everything happening here on Main and then back on Breach, Iris did not expect a response so soon, and whatever she _would_ get, she had thought she might potentially be pointed in the direction of some quarter or another, something relatively vague. Instead she had received the names of two of her brother's abductors. And then, what she had really hoped she would not have to find out: there had been another abduction.

The footage was there, and seeing it now, she was granted the first images of those three girls in action. They were metas, all of them, and to see the way they had ganged up on the woman… she could just barely take a breath, thinking of them doing this to her brother.

With the combined information she now held, she had to wonder.

Wallace West, her brother, taken from Haven by Lily Stein, Jesse Wells, and the unknown blonde.

Zari Tomaz, the reporter, taken from Main by two unknown men.

Mag, an alien, taken from War by Stein, Wells, and the blonde.

Three people, with no connections whatsoever, taken from three different places, and all Iris could think was… why? What would they gain from it? And now they had two abductions committed by the trio, and one by a duo. Were they really all related, or was Zari's taking about something else? Maybe it was, or maybe for some reason the trio only took people from Breach Earth, which made little sense, with the tech they all had, allowing them to open breaches. _That_ was the same, on both sides, she was fairly sure. Again… why?

In the notes attached along with the video for Mag, there was a transcript of some of what had been said in the otherwise silent video, provided by someone able to read the lips of the trio. _Why doesn't it work on you?_ The blonde. _Where the hell are_ you _from?_ Jesse Wells.

 _You. That's what we want._ Lily Stein.

That was the one Iris couldn't get out of her head. It could have been interpreted in one of two ways, either it was a targeted abduction, a list of names, specific people needing to be taken. Or the declaration was really just the meta's way of setting her target shaking in her boots and it really didn't mean anything had been premeditated.

She sighed, wheeling away from her desk to just plant her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands, taking a few deep breaths. She would allow herself this moment, just this one, and then she'd figure something out, she would…

Sitting back up, she'd established a communication link with Haven's ARGUS outpost, and through them she had been put in contact with Lyla Michaels. The woman had become a quick ally since this whole situation had started, and as she was in Haven, maybe…

"I'm sending you images of a couple breachers out of Haven. If you have any way of getting them identified, I know you work with the police…"

"What do you need it for?" Lyla asked, wondering. Iris had laid out all the information she could, in as little of time as she could, about the abductions, the unconfirmed links, the breachers… her brother…

"I know now is not the time, but the whole thing just feels a bit too…"

"Conveniently timed?" Lyla offered.

"Something like that," Iris nodded to herself. There was a pause, as Lyla considered all this. Finally, she had come back to her with the claim that she had a thought, and that she would get back to her. "Thanks. How's it going with the Merlyn search?" This brought a whole other silence, which Iris easily interpreted as meaning that they had picked up a crumb or two that had to do with her father. "You know what, don't tell me… There's already too much in my head."

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	18. DAY 035 (vol 1, ch 18)

_Day 35 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 18_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **THE WEST QUADRANT INFIRMARY**

Walking back into the WQI felt like the last thing any of them should ever have or want to do, and yet here they were, some of them. For the most part it still looked as it would have done earlier that day, before the attack. As a whole, War Quarter saw more than its fair share of destruction and desolation, but this was in equal parts the exception and the rule. Some would rebuild, some would make do with what they had left. The infirmaries, for the services they gave and the status they held for the city and its people, saw priority care, and it would show.

But then today the WQI was covered in bodies, in its beds and across its floors, on its grounds maintained by volunteers like so many fallen statues, and now the care taken with the whole property stood as an eerie backdrop to all the dead… _Nowhere is safe. Not even here. Not anymore._

Although assessments promised that the air was now safe to breathe again, not a single person going anywhere near the WQI took a chance. They all had their masks, shields up. Kara and Alexandra were among them, as were the Hawks, and Detective Raatko, and Superman and Valor.

Kara worried for Seeker… Lena… In what little time she had really gotten to interact with the girl since that one time two years ago when she had enabled her return to Haven, she had gotten to feel a growing bond of friendship with her. Maybe it was that she was from War, too, and Kara had been feeling a growing nostalgia toward the place she had called home. Maybe it was that they had always sort of understood each other. And now all of this, the Most weapon, the way it was affecting her…

The group had moved into the building with a quiet sort of respect for the dead still lying all around them. Another team would be proceeding with their removal, and they were already moving to attend to the ones outside the building. For those inside however, they would wait until the first team had doits sweep inside the WQI.

"How do we do this?" Rip asked, the handing dread making his back feel sort of itchy, right where his wings would come. "There are four levels above ground, two underneath."

"Top to bottom... or bottom to top…" Gideon looked to be experiencing the same 'wing itch' feeling.

"Might make it easier if we split up. Too many of us in the same area will only confuse things," Nyssa offered, and it was agreed that half of them would start in the second basement level and the others would work down from the top floor, and sooner or later they would meet in the middle.

The Hawks had made for the basements, along with Rory, while the Danvers sisters, the detective, and Roy started up for the 4th floor.

Winding their way up the stairs, they came across bodies, too. They had set themselves to carry them off on to the nearest floor, where they might be found and brought from the building. Each had been taken up with care, as though they were only ever asleep. The hardest was to observe the way they were found and to know they had fallen, each of them, their bodies tumbling heavily as the life had left them. They were broken, all of them.

By the time they had made it to the top floor, it felt like they would have only wanted to stop and take a breath, but there was no escaping this moment, this place. So they went on working. Bit by bit, they would comb through everything they saw, inspected the people they found, as they had done with the ones in the steps. For all they could feel for them, they couldn't forget that one or more of them might have walked death into the WQI and fallen with the rest of them.

They looked at everything that was out of place, tried to find any place where something could have been hidden, in case the weapon had been left behind to its work without taking the carrier with it. Roy would look through walls and into ducts, and that was how they'd found the shell.

"There's something in there," he pointed up before prying the duct open. The object fell into Kara's waiting hands. Looking through the open duct, they could see a small hole, the sun shining in.

"They shot the thing in there… It must have cracked open after that, and then whatever was inside… It got them all," Kara frowned, like it would keep her from crying. It didn't. Anger had been simmering in her all this time, and the longer it went on, the more they found… It felt like she would boil over before this was through.

X

 **OUTSIDE THE WQI**

Slade walked from the WQI grounds, toward the vehicles lined up to receive the dead. They would be brought elsewhere, that they might be identified, returned to the care of family if they had them, that they might be laid to rest, and if they didn't have anyone, they would be sent on to the sisters, who would see to them all the same.

He carried in his arms the two small bodies of a pair of girls who had fallen and died hand in hand. They must have been running for shelter when they had been taken, like the rest. Whether they were family or not, he couldn't say, but it wouldn't be left to him to separate them from one another, not here. He didn't run either. He could have. He could have cleared this whole field of its dead, much faster than they all did at this rate, but he chose not to. It wouldn't have felt like they had ever been people.

He had some of their group to help him, M'gann, Mike… and he had some of the resistance army. He had the general herself. She carried her weight, all the while ensuring that her soldiers comported themselves with respect. The hardest would be when any of them found someone they had known among the dead, someone they had loved… They sometimes found other soldiers like them, visitors or patients.

When they'd watched Superman zoom out of the building and into the sky, with a box tucked under his arm, Slade could see the general watch him go before turning to enter the WQI in search of the sweep team. He followed behind her; he wanted to know, too.

"What have you found?" the general asked the group, as it stood, reunited, in the lobby.

"A shell, the carrier for the poison, in a duct on the 4th floor. It's being taken to Stein Labs as we speak," Gideon reported.

"Have you found the one who deployed it?" the general asked.

"It was launched in from the air," Kara replied.

"Then the network will track its launch if it can," the general nodded. At the curious looks of those from out of quarter, Kara had explained. As much as the resistance and its network covered a lot of ground, it didn't get everything. Sometimes the enemy blocked them, managed to, even though the resistance had grown sneakier in consequence. There were blind spots.

The WQI, as a sanctuary, was a bit of a blind spot, on their own demand. It was meant to be that one could be safe there, no matter what side they fought for. It was meant to be neutral. After today, it might not be, not anymore.

With the sweep completed, the team had joined in the removal of the bodies. A chain would be formed, stretchers passed on. Little by little the WQI would be emptied, each floor double checked, triple checked, to ensure no one was left behind. And when it was done, the doors were barred, the gates were closed. Everyone stood back, silence held, in memory of the dead, and the fall of the WQI.

"It'll never be opened again, will it…" Kara spoke quietly. The Hawks were quiet. Slade, the general, the resistance… A symbol had been taken from them, and they couldn't forget.

X

 **IN THE CITY**

Ralph Dibny had found himself in his old neighborhood all of a sudden, and to realize he hadn't noticed they were headed in that direction had been enough to set him to really take it all in. This was where he'd grown. This was where he'd seen them die. This was where he had known he would join the resistance. Not decided, just known. There was nothing left to choose at that point.

He remembered it well, so well it pained him to know just how much. He wondered how many of the people he had known growing up were still here, or anywhere out there really. After he had joined the resistance he had tried to look in on them, sometimes, but there would be those days where it was just too hard, where being here brought back those memories and then…

Ever since he'd taken off on the Waverider he had not returned. He couldn't, he'd tell himself, but then he could have found a way, couldn't he? If he had actually meant to return, he would have had to, no?

The old neighborhood was part of the area the resistance and he were supposed to go through, to talk to the people, to ask them if they had seen anything, heard anything, preceding the attack. The call to shelter had been lifted hours ago, but even now a lot of the people they called on were shown to have taken in a number of people running for cover when the call had gone out. And many of them were still there. This was not uncommon. It would be shameful, for any right minded citizen to turn away people stranded in the middle of a call.

They were given more than one tale of what had happened earlier, and the variations made it clear that not all of them were true. The way some of them would have it, this had been the work of the War Maker himself, descended upon them to show his power. Those who didn't grow up here might have put more weight on this declaration, while those who _had_ would take the declaration as more of an expression among them. There was no such thing as the War Maker, even if some people insisted that there was.

"Dibny?" He paused, turned to find an old man staring back at him, looking at once frail and sturdy. Ralph looked at him, feeling in that voice that he should have known the man, but nothing came to him. The man nodded, as though he had confirmed it for himself. "You look just like your grandfather," he declared, and Ralph felt a breath rise in him. "Never forgot him, not a day," the old man added, a small smile on his face to see his friend's grandson.

"Sir, did you see anything, before the WQI was hit?" The look on the man's face told it all. To think someone had dared attack the infirmary… If he had been just a little younger, oh he would have shown them. But then he pointed his long, gnarled finger, shaking toward the roof of a building in the near distance. "Thank you, Sir."

"For you, Dibny, anytime." The smile they shared was something rare and precious in their city. So many would die, be lost, taking so much of memories and joy with them. Ralph had never met his grandfather; he'd died before he was born. Then of course he had barely known his parents, as young as he'd been when they'd been killed, but here was this man, and in his mind his grandfather lived on, remembered and realized. How could he do anything but smile?

Up in the sky, Ralph and the resistance watched as Superman flew past as they made their way to inspect the rooftop the old man had pointed out to them.

X

 **STEIN LABS**

The work had been quiet, for as long as they had been at it, in the hours following their short rest, after the revelation down on the Waverider. Everyone was doing all that they needed to do, but not a word was spoken, and everyone knew why.

Martin Stein and Harrison Wells had not known one another until the day before, and yet by chance they had been brought together, only to discover their respective daughters both knew each other and has been cooperating on some kind of kidnapping scheme. And who knew what else…

It used to be that Stein Labs stood for their combined contributions, both Martin and his daughter. From such an early age, Lily had shown potential, and in nurturing it he knew he was also able to protect her from the atrocities happening outside their walls. His daughter had been clever enough to understand this, to understand that something was happening out there… It became her life's mission to create something that would make their world better, so he let her do as she pleased.

It was in working on one of her projects that the incident happened, which left her with the powers she had. They hadn't been so strong, not at the beginning, if anything she was nearly dying from them, or the injuries. Either way, her father had sought to help. Only, in doing so, while he _had_ stabilized her, he had also strengthened her powers. The same solution had also saved Kara Zeta and been the source of her own powers, whether anyone realized it or not.

But his Lily, after she'd become what she'd become, the Mirror Mistress, she had been changed, in more than power alone. Martin could see it all, happening before his eyes, and he was powerless. What could he do to stop her? He did not have the fortitude to bring down his own little girl.

In many ways, the Stein father and daughter's story was not too far off from the Wells. Like Lily Stein, like Kara Zeta, the transformation she had undergone was born out of an effort to save her life. Only in her case the change, the powers, had not been an unfortunate sort of side effect. When Harrison Wells, the real one, the one the alien now wearing his face and name had replaced, had treated the sickly girl, he had done so with the full knowledge that she would be changed, knowledge which he had kept from both father and daughter.

Only then he had died before the powers first manifested, so who really knew what he would have done, if he would have told them the truth before it became self evident. The point remained that the powers _had_ come, and in such a way that the unsuspecting Jesse Wells had lost control for a while. Her father would have wanted nothing more than to protect and shelter her. But then she knew what she had become, and to make matters worse she had figured out for herself that the original Wells had knowingly done this to her. After that, there had been no holding her back anymore.

There was no knowing how the two young women had come together, who their third partner was, who they worked for, or what they planned to do. All they knew was that their daughters were out there, hurting people, and, without ever laying a finger on them, they were doing the same to their fathers.

"Did you ever meet his kid?" Evelyn whispered to Jax as he stood with Carter and her, quietly out of the way.

"Lily?" he asked, and she gave him a look. "Kind of. Never actually spoke to her, but I was here once and she had stopped by to talk to Doctor Stein. She never saw me, I don't think but I saw her. I know Doctor Stein still cares a lot about her, even after everything that happened between them, and seeing her that day… he was devastated after. Kind of like he is now," he looked back to the man who had been his friend from the day they had met.

"What about her mother?" Evelyn asked, just as Jax got the signal to open a breach and let someone in. Seconds later, there stood Superman, with a box in hand.

"This was found at the WQI, we believe it was used to disperse the poison."

Stein, Wells, and Zeta moved to the box, which Wells opened, pulling out the broken shell and setting it carefully for all to see. Catherine Grant observed it carefully, crouching and leaning while her eyes were firmly planted to the cracked shell.

"To think, something so small, doing all that… I'd be impressed if it wasn't so horrifying."

"I can check the ARGUS databases to see if it matches anything we've seen before," Rene told them.

"Any telltale markings?" Eobard Thawne asked, as he inspected the shell, too.

"None that I can see," Laura Zeta told him. "If anything, it looks just a bit hastily made, like they were in a hurry to get it cracked open. The only question would be what for."

"I could think of a number of reasons, though whether any would apply here is anyone's guess," Doctor Stein declared. "Plans change, time tables change, and sometimes a distraction is needed, or a display… a real one."

"They already know what they'll hit next," Barry guessed.

"I don't doubt it for a second," Stein nodded to him. "In which case we will need to hurry and find them before it's too late.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	19. DAY 037 (vol 1, ch 19)

_Day 37 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 19_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

As he led the group of resistance soldiers up toward the roof, Ralph could have pretended for a moment that the last few years had gone away, that he was still what he had been, a part of these people, all of them working together with the same goal, the same drive. They wanted to protect their city, their people, and nothing would stop them. Today he wasn't really one of them, he knew, and he did not regret in any way the work he had been doing with the Waverider. But he was here, and they were following his lead, and… it felt alright.

Approaching the building, taking to the stairs that would get them all the way to the roof, they were still on alert. By all accounts there was little to no chance of whoever had attacked the WQI still being there, but they still needed to be prepared, just in case there _was_ someone… or something.

The way had been clear, and there was no one up there when Ralph set foot on the roof. But running into his grandfather's old friend had not been for nothing. This was definitely the place they'd launched the shell from, to land in the WQI.

"See if the network can pick up on whoever was up here at the time of the attack, and in the hours before and after," he told the soldier at his back, and the young woman nodded and started back down toward the street. The others had started moving about, getting images of the roof, showing the line of sight with the infirmary… Ralph looked at them, working so efficiently at his call, and he wondered if they knew that just hours ago he had been led into their base in handcuffs, that he was marked as a deserter.

Their problems were not going to be over just like that, he knew. J'onn J'onzz and his – sanctioned – deception might have gotten them out, and the situation with the Mist weapon made them all have too much to deal with already… But after all was said and done, something would have to happen. The General was in charge, and she was a good person, but there were others within their ranks, those in charge of the special projects, who had been growing more and more unfocused when it came to what they were doing all of this for. He knew it, and the General had to know it, too.

One of these days, they were going to have to put a stop to whatever was going on down there. Ralph hadn't gotten the chance to see very much of it while he'd been down at the base, but from what Slade and the Hawks had told him… Something needed to be done and it needed to be done soon.

But for now… For now they had one potential lead to follow, and if it could lead them to whoever was responsible for all of this, then they could see about getting War Quarter back a little of what it had lost… maybe more than a little.

X

After the attack on the West Quadrant Infirmary, and after the news of the attack had started making the rounds over the city, it had become a priority for the resistance and for the city's people to secure the North, South, and East Quadrant and Central Infirmaries.

Some of the people had been so shaken by the attack on the WQI that they wanted to take their loved ones out of the infirmary, take them home.

"If he's not safe here anymore, then what else is there left?" M'gann had heard an old woman tell the doctor presently pleading with her to leave her grandson where he was. She'd just walked into the NQI along with Roy, Rory, and Nyssa to find this quiet exodus happening all around them. "He's all I have left, do you understand?" the old woman had turned her back on the doctor, cradling the small boy, bandages and all. She could barely support the weight of him, but she would hold on to him, she would, until she carried him out of this place.

"Excuse me," Rory had moved from their group, toward her. "Can I help the two of you home?" The woman stared at him, doubtful.

"I'm not letting go of him," she looked to the boy.

"I can carry you both," Rory told her, and the woman stared at him for a moment, then up and around them.

"This used to be a safe place," she declared, sadness in her voice, before looking back to Rory. "You will forgive me for saying so, but you look a little thin to carry the both of us."

"Looks can be deceiving," Rory promised her. And he had picked her up, as though she weighed no more than a newborn. As concerned as she'd been, the woman looked briefly amused by this turn, though not nearly as much as she did when they lifted off the ground and the one they called Valor flew the three of them out of the NQI, much to the awe of the others in the midst of their walk out of the infirmary.

"Have there been many like her?" Nyssa asked, approaching the doctor still standing there.

"Just look around you," the discouraged man sighed. "Can't say I blame them, as a citizen. But as a doctor… Excuse me," he tipped his head before moving to a patient attempting to limp his way out, bleeding from a leg wound with every step.

"Maybe it's not such a bad idea right now," M'gann remarked, looking around. "We don't know where they will hit next, if they do launch another attack. They might try and take out the other infirmaries. Or they might try and go after something else instead, one we won't be waiting on like the rest of these."

"Hate to say it, but if I was looking for targets around here…" Roy started, and both M'gann and Nyssa were already nodding knowingly. If they wanted to make another statement, something like the ARGUS outpost would be a good one for them… and then the resistance army base. And if they could launch at a distance like they'd done with the WQI…

"The resistance is keeping additional eyes on the network, around potential targets," M'gann added. "But it might still not be enough. We need to find them." That was why they were here, in a way. If they could get a look from here, to find a potential launch site…

M'gann thought of Mag for a moment. She couldn't help but to think of her, when circumstances were keeping them from going after her, to bring her back where she belonged… _At least she isn't in the middle of all this._ It was barely comforting as a thought, but it was still true. She knew what it was like, leaving a place of chaos, only to find yourself in the middle of another. Wherever she was now, M'gann didn't know if she was safe, if she was at peace… They had to find her.

X

 **STEIN LABS**

From the beginning, from the day she had found herself aboard her ship while it was being commandeered by the displaced Leonard Snart, Catherine Grant had been plagued with one constant thought she couldn't escape. One day, someday, she would have to return to the future, to her own time, along with her ship… wouldn't she?

She wasn't blind to the fact that anything and everything she did in the past could, in the long run, affect the state of the future time she had left. She might return and find that Grant Innovations no longer existed… But she didn't believe it would be that way. No, she had always been of the mindset that what was meant to happen _would_ happen, so, really, the way she saw it, this had always been her path, whether she knew it or not. And if she was due to return to the future at any time, then she would go… when it was her time to return.

Maybe that time would never come. Maybe, off in the future, on the morning where the newest development from Grant Innovations was supposed to be unveiled, they would instead discover that both ship and maker had vanished, never to be seen or heard from again. At first she'd been so set on one goal alone, to find a way to regain control of her ship and take it home, but the more time had gone on, the more she'd learned, that goal just became something she couldn't see herself aiming for as much.

How many could say that they had been a part of the stories that had taught them to thrive, to want to create, to fly… _She_ could. Those old tales, of the ship called Waverider, of all it had done centuries and centuries before she'd been born, she'd found them in her youth and been inspired. Those stories had stayed with her enough that, when she'd seen her greatest achievement brought together, she'd named her time ship the Waverider, in honor of that old breach ship, not knowing they were in fact one and the same. She hadn't put those pieces together, not until after she'd helped Leonard Snart steal her ship and herself along with it.

Now, all this time, she was travelling along the story of her own life, on the curve of a circle, wondering what would happen when those two ends rejoined.

This was already a brand new chapter for her, now that everyone knew she was aboard that ship. Well, maybe not everyone. She wasn't entirely sure what the rest of them knew, back on Main Earth. Ed, Quentin, Lucy, Ava… Leonard… Now wouldn't that be a curious encounter? Already meeting those she had already met face to face and seeing them be so utterly mystified had been much more amusing than she would ever have suspected, and that was a good thing right now… Everything else that was happening around them certainly left little in the way of levity.

"You two, tell me something. Have you ever seen anything like this shell?" she asked, signalling for Kara's friends to join her as she got her turn inspecting it. The man and the girl came up, looking at the broken shell as she held it and moved it around.

"Not like this one," Carter frowned, reaching out his hand and letting Catherine set the shell in his palm. Evelyn looked at it, too, though she seemed less willing to touch it. They'd both seen more than their share of what their home had to offer where weapons and ammunition were concerned, and this just didn't feel right, like a foreign piece thrown in the middle of a matching set. They'd looked to one another as the thought expanded, and looking back to Catherine, staring as though waiting to see if her own hunch paid off, they knew:

"It's not from here, is it?" Evelyn asked, looking at the shell under a new light, something out of a whole other world than her own. Although, knowing what it had been brought here to do, it lost the vast majority of its shine.

X

 **IN THE CITY**

Kara had known deep down this was going to happen sooner or later. Spending all this time in War, crossing from one place to another, and another, all around the city, at some point they would have to end up around here, even all the way to where they now stood.

"This was my home," she stated quietly, looking to her sister, standing to her left, and to Seeker at her right. "The Zetas' home," she went on. "They brought me here at first, I think because everything else, being in War, not knowing who I was, it was getting to be… overwhelming. Being here, I felt safe."

It felt almost selfish in that moment to just want to go back through that door and be in her old house again, but it was just there on her face. Alexandra looked at her, and she swore she looked so much like the little sister she'd lost all those years ago. She looked across to where Seeker stood. The breach hopper had but one thought after the WQI attack, only wanted to put an end to all this madness with the Mist weapon, and a detour down memory lane barely seemed like something they could afford. But then maybe she knew a thing or two about being faced with one's past. She'd met Alexandra's look and after a few seconds she'd simply tipped her head.

"Think Laura will mind if we check it out?" Alexandra asked her sister. Kara moved at once to lead them in, like her feet had just been waiting for permission to move forward.

The home was well protected from potential invasions, but Kara still remembered just how to get in, like a dance you'd recall years and years on. Even the sounds, the clicks and the creaks, filled her with impossible recollections of small moments through her years here, and then, when they'd opened the door and walked in… the scents… the scents were the same, the feel of the place. Kara walked onward with near reverence.

"My room was that way," she told Alexandra and Seeker, leading them down a corridor. "It used to be an office. The desk at Stein Labs was here when I first arrived. They brought it there to make space for me." The door was closed, and Kara wondered what she would find when she opened it. Would the room still be as she'd left it? There had been that period of her time here when she had distanced herself from the Zetas, yes, but even then she knew that she could always, _always_ come back here, that she would always have a space…

So really it should have been all the answer she needed. She opened the door, and as always… there was her space in the Zeta home.

Here was her bed, there was the small cabinet and there were her old clothes. The vest… Laura's old vest, given to her to keep because it would always make her feel better when her mother would drape it over her small shoulders… She'd grown into it over time, and it never diminished its effects. And her books, the few she'd keep here in her room, along with the precious notebooks, few as they were, where she would scribble and doodle. Alexandra had laid a finger to the first, looking back at her, and Kara had nodded.

In these pages, Alexandra discovered the Kara who had gone from a nameless girl without a clue of who she was to one who had made herself into the person she'd become.

"Kara…" she breathed, looking at the notebook in her hands.

"I used to hide them, at first. I didn't want Laura or Eliot to see… to think I was strange," she told her, the thought of her father, brief as it was, felt like it would sit on her heart and remain.

"This tree," Alexandra pointed to the page she'd been looking at. "It used to be outside the house, we could see it from your window. I-It was cut a few years after you d… after you came here." Kara looked at the drawing, not even remembering when she had done it. But she did remember drawing it; she remembered how intent she'd been on the white bird she'd drawn flying over the highest branches. Looking at it now, it just made her head ache. She understood what it was, but she couldn't have put the pieces together if they hadn't been pointed out to her.

She'd still been inside her, somewhere. The old her, the old Kara Danvers, the one who'd grown up with her mother and father and sister, the one who hadn't yet set foot on Breach Earth, in War. Was she still there now? Did she want her to come out? _No… No, I'm not her anymore… I haven't been her… If she comes back, won't it be like dying? No more Kara Zeta, just…_

"We should get back out there. We need to find who attacked the WQI," she walked out of the room. Alexandra set the notebook back where she had found it, following Seeker, who was already trailing after Kara.

"I've been thinking, there's one place we should look into," Seeker told Kara. "The Trades." Kara turned back to her, realizing she hadn't thought of it before.

"What's the Trades?" Alexandra asked. She had a feeling she had a good idea what it was, but she had to ask.

"It's the place for anyone too good for the enemy…" Kara told her.

"… and not good enough for the resistance," Seeker added with a nod.

"That's where I met Evelyn and Carter."

X

Ralph and his team had rejoined Slade and the General's team, as they exchanged what information they'd picked up thus far. The resistance was working extensively toward identifying and securing potential targets for a second attack. The General wanted to know what both Ralph and Slade believed to be the most likely candidate. Neither of them really had one answer standing above the rest. Not knowing who was behind all this, they could only go off of what they knew.

They had attacked the WQI, a place of shelter, a pillar within the city, and the aftermath – along with the hundreds left dead – was one which left the citizens destabilized, disheartened. If the infirmaries weren't safe…

So the attackers, whoever they were, had dealt this first blow. What now? Would their next move be to further press on an existing wound by attacking another infirmary? Or would they go after another landmark, another of the places that represented security, protection…

"The base," Slade was almost sure now. "ARGUS, the outpost, they're outsiders. The resistance army is not shelter, but they're the ones fighting for the city every day. If they were hit…" The grim look on the General's face said it all. She'd figured just the same. But now… how did they prepare for that without tipping their hand, triggering a response?

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	20. DAY 039 (vol 1, ch 20)

_Day 39 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 20_

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **SOMEWHERE…**

The tension remained on them, all eight present in the room. The gun guys, with their weapons on Zari and Wallace. The two meta girls standing around Mag. And Stein's girl in the middle of it all, staring at her. Mag could feel she was being baited, but seeing as that had basically been the plan, she couldn't be mad at it. No, far from it… She was going to enjoy this. She'd always been told she had a temper, and in her early days on Earth she would have had a lot of trouble controlling it. But she'd gotten better at it, much better. Now, when she let that temper out, it was for good reason.

Like dealing with the likes of Girl Stein.

"I bet you just love throwing those powers around," Mag told her, keeping eye contact. "I also bet you couldn't handle taking me on without them."

"That's your plan? A fist fight?" Girl Stein chuckled dismissively.

"Fists, elbows, feet… I'm not picky," Mag shrugged. "What do you say? I know you just have to be wondering. You've seen what happened when these two tried to take me down at first, that was a tickle. Right now they're probably fuming at me, aren't they? Because they actually had to try for once. You though… you just stood there and watched, so… maybe that's all you're good for. What do I know?" She stopped talking then, waited.

"Alright…" Girl Stein finally spoke, motioning to the other meta girls.

"Lily, you can't be serious, that's not…" the blonde spoke, and Mag gave Girl Stein – sorry, _Lily_ – a smirk, like 'see, now I know your name.'

"Step back," Lily told the blonde, her voice sharp, before turning to the other girl. "Both of you." The look in their eyes as they did step back, showed just what they thought of getting ordered around, even if they _did_ comply. "That goes for you two also," Lily spoke to the guys without bothering to turn toward them.

"We'll just hold on to these if you don't mind," said the taller one, pulling at Wallace's arm so he would follow out of the center of the room, just as the other did with Zari. They kept on pointing those guys at them.

"No powers, no tricks," Mag declared.

"Whatever you feel like," Lily Stein opened out her arms in a mock bow.

"If she's from War like me, she'll fight scrappy," Zari called to Mag.

"Now, now, we said no tricks," Lily turned back, and the guy guarding her hit Zari in the back, sending her staggering to her knees. Wallace tried to go to her, but was stopped in the same fashion by the other guy. Mag breathed deep. She had to be smart about this. She looked to the two of them now on their knees. They'd be hurting, but they'd be alright.

"Are we doing this or what?" she called to Lily Stein. She got her answer when the other woman started to move toward her. From that point, it was clear. The fight was on.

Zari had been right, Lily did fight scrappy. She didn't care about form, nothing. She was coming at Mag with the sole intent of getting her to go down and stay down, which was probably a good idea for any kid growing up in War. But then on the flip side, Mag had her own talents, given by her species. She had strength, agility, stamina… all her senses worked to her benefits, and none more than her mind. She'd been in plenty of fights where emotional distractions had been her failing, but this was not one of them. She knew exactly what she was doing here.

But then so did Lily Stein, and so did her buddies. After a while, when it seemed without a doubt like Mag would get the best of her, she'd felt a sudden jolt of electricity, strongly focused at her foot, which brought her down.

"Hey!" Zari shouted, unable to keep from reacting. No one did anything to her for that one, but then plenty was happening with Mag and her fight. After the electrical one had broken the rules, it was like all bets were off. The other one had unleashed a current of her own power, making Mag feel like the she didn't know up from down or left from right anymore. Pinned like that, Lily Stein had come for her with no mercy.

"Leave her alone, that's not right!" Wallace had shouted, and he had had enough. He shot off from where he'd been sitting, half crouched still after getting hit in the back, and he'd tackled Lily Stein, pinning her down. "That's enough."

"You stop whatever you're doing, right now," Zari followed his example, moving away from her guard – who let her go – and she'd pushed at the blonde's shoulder before punching at her face, sending her sprawling back and releasing her hold on Mag, who wasted no time to turn on the electrical girl and yanking her leg to pull her down to ground hard, knocking the wind out of her. The girl tried to shock her, but Mag had her pinned down.

"Nice try," the girl huffed, before giving off a roar of a shout, giving off enough power to have turned someone with less fortitude just a bit crispy. In Mag's case, it sent her down to the ground and out for the count, though she'd recover in time. "Don't just stand there!" the girl called to the two guys.

"If you insist," the taller one replied, moving to yank Wallace away from Lily. He'd only held her there, couldn't make himself hit her, but then going off of the fact that she hadn't even tried to fight back either, he figured she'd known he wouldn't do a thing and she only had to wait him out. Meanwhile, his partner had gone to where Zari was giving the blonde a run for her money despite the pain in her shoulder. She only stopped when she felt the whirring of the fire gun and saw it pointed level with her forehead.

"I think you remember how this feels, so let's just step away from the lady, alright?" he told her, and she scrambled away, hands in sight. "Excellent moves, by the way, very impressive."

The meta girls had gotten to their feet, some with more difficulty than others, and then… well, they didn't know what had happened, except that just as they'd sort of appeared out of nowhere before, they also disappeared into nowhere, leaving the unconscious Mag, the perplexed Wallace, and the bruised up Zari in their wake.

"Hey…" Wallace had moved to Zari first, seeing plainly that Mag was out cold but very much breathing. He helped Zari sit up. "Are you okay?" he asked, even as he could see plenty of the signs of the fight on her. Her lip was split, and she was going to get a bruise there at her chin, and her shoulder… he'd need to do another bandage, it was looking like it had bled and…

"Are you kidding?" she laughed, which made her wince, touching her side, though she kept on laughing anyway. "Felt good to let all that out, did you see the look on her face?" Looking around, she saw Mag still unconscious, and she started to pull herself to get closer. "What about you? You okay?"

"I barely did anything," he admitted.

"You did something," Zari told him, as good as telling him 'that counted plenty.' She checked on Mag, brave, foolish Mag. She was alive, and that was all she could have asked for… Well, that and getting out of here, but they could only do so much.

"More bandages," Wallace announced, and Zari looked up to find they had a new first aid kit.

"I don't know whether to be proud or concerned that this one's bigger than the last one," she declared, while he set about patching her up again. As he did so, she held on to Mag's hand, wanting her to know, even unconscious, that she wasn't alone and they were with her.

X

"Hold still, unless you want me to make this worse," Jesse frowned as she attempted to clean up Lyra's bloody nose.

"Ab goig oo gi ah…" she spoke, or tried to speak.

"Concussion or swollen nose?" Raymond asked, not bothered to hide his amusement.

"Pretty sure that was 'I'm going to kill her,'" Nate translated, and Lyra pointed a finger at him. Correct. "Yeah, except you're not." She glared at him. "You can't." She kept glaring. "You really want to make things worse than you already did?" She turned her eyes back down to Jesse, in a display of 'I'm ignoring you now.'

"On that note, the two of us are going to get back to what we should be doing. Have fun when Vandal returns, ladies," Raymond tipped his head to them, and, after opening a breach, he and Nate were gone. Lily moved to stare into the room like she'd barely noticed the guys were even there.

"You should have let me finish her off myself," she told the other two. Jesse silently imitated her as she got back to fixing Lyra up. The blonde laughed, which was a costly and painful mistake, but it had been worth it. "Oh, go on, say what you have to say, Jesse."

"Nothing to say, not me," Jesse shrugged, tending to the unfortunate nose. "Although, seeing how you knew as well as we did how all that was going to end up, the fact that you let it happen at all… But what do I know?"

"If any of them have any inclinations toward trying to escape again anytime soon, we just made it harder for them, so there's that."

"Ee boke ba dose…" Lyra complained.

"Yes, well unless you want it to heal funny, you're going to sit there and try _not_ to twist the room around me while I set it, or I'll fix it the _other_ way," Jesse informed her, pointing her finger up and letting a spark escape from it. Lyra's brow set with determination and she nodded. "This isn't going to be pleasant for anyone, you know? Right… Three, two…"

X

Somewhere near, they heard shouting. Wallace looked up, startled.

"What was that?" he asked. Zari smirked.

"I think Blondie just got a nose job," she told him as he went on bandaging her shoulder again. "They never suspect the reporter," she told him, tutting her finger in victory. "Ow…" she winced.

"Sorry, sorry…"

"Don't worry about it."

After he'd finished fixing her up, he'd stood, stretching out the bit of pain left in his back and walking around slowly. There were the odd droplets of blood on the floor, though he couldn't say who they'd come from.

Maybe around ten minutes later, Mag had opened her eyes and just as she had when she'd first woken up, her first instinct had been self-defence, though again she was weakened out by the intense hit she'd taken. Then she saw the faces of her co-captives swimming overhead and she sighed.

"How are you feeling?" Zari asked.

"… static," she replied, making the others chuckle despite themselves. Alien or not, she'd become part of their little family, the Nightmare Room club… "How's your face?" she waved her finger toward Zari.

"Unpleasant but not the worst. You hungry? We've still got a bit left on the… Wait, hang on," she nodded to a new tray waiting for them. "Guess we didn't piss them off enough that they'd let us starve."

"Make sure it's not poison… or they didn't tamper with any of it," Mag called as Wallace went to retrieve it, while Zari helped her sit up.

"Why'd you have to go and put that idea in my head?" Wallace frowned. They set about inspecting their new load.

"All looks fine to me," Zari announced.

"I think I'm going to wait a bit," Mag told them. "Not because of the food," she added, catching the look that flashed over Wallace's face. "Just waiting for my head to settle," she felt at it.

Wallace and Zari had eaten, just a bit. Zari had to manage around her lip, and the growing pain in her chin, while Wallace still hadn't completely shaken Mag's suggestion and looked to each item he picked up with suspicion. When Mag finally felt like eating, too, they got to talking.

"Think they're still out there?" Wallace asked. Mag paused, turning her head to the side for a moment.

"Don't think so, no. But there's someone else… I really can't explain that one," she frowned. As helpful as Mag's senses could be, they could also be the tiniest bit unsettling, especially now, when informed of an unknown presence, somewhere near, possibly watching them.

"So wherever they are out there, watching us…" Zari spoke quietly. "It's through that wall there behind you, right?" Mag nodded. That was good to know, or it might be, if they ever managed to work out a way to escape from here.

"I almost had my hand on something in her pocket," Mag told the other two. "Pretty sure it was one of those things to make breaches."

"Think that's why the others finally jumped in?" Wallace wondered.

"No, this was after, right before you two got into it." They fell quiet again. "Still, it wasn't all fruitless." She informed them, pulling a small object from inside her sleeve and showing it to them. They just barely managed to contain their reactions. She slipped it back into her sleeve again. "No idea what it is, what it does, and I don't know if they're watching us close enough that they know I have this, but either way… She might realize I have it and come back for it, or she won't notice."

"For now it's ours," Zari tipped her head.

"Yeah," Mag confirmed.

"Can I see it again?" Wallace asked. Mag gave him a look that told him to be careful, and she reached down to put her hand to the floor, pulling it away again to show the object on the ground. Wallace took a page from that book, leaning over to take something from the tray, setting his hand on the ground, over the object, for support as he went. When he sat back against the wall again, he had chips and the object. He set it on his folded legs, his posture keeping it hidden as he opened the bag of chips and started to eat, looking at the object as he did.

He really had no idea what it was. It didn't look like a phone or walkie talkie or anything like that. It didn't even have buttons on it, didn't seem like a remote, although it did sort of fit nicely in his hand.

"I really don't know," he had to admit after a while.

"Don't worry about it," Zari leaned in to give him a side hug. When she sat up again, the object was gone from him, and now she had it, carefully looking it over as discreetly as possible. She wasn't coming up with anything either. The only thing she could say was that it definitely seemed to fall along the theme of this room, with its strange technology. Eventually, the object finished its circuit, going back to Mag and going into her sleeve again.

"Until we know what to do with it, let's just pretend like we don't have it, right?" Wallace suggested, and the others nodded.

"So what do we do now?" Zari asked.

"Well I don't know about you two, but I could do with some sleep… and by that I mean actual sleep, not unconsciousness." Now that she mentioned it, they were realizing they were getting pretty tired themselves.

"Last time, he slept, and then I slept," Zari told her. "I think two of us can sleep and then the third can go after this time."

"You two go ahead," Wallace insisted. "I went first last time."

"Well now, we could really do with some actual pillows… and blankets… and beds…" Zari addressed the open room. She was met with silence. "I'm just going to keep trying," she shrugged. "I'll wear them down eventually."

At least, with Mag's jacket surrendered to the cause, they now had two 'pillows,' one for each, and so the two women laid down, on either side of Wallace, sitting up against the wall, and soon they were sleeping.

Wallace told himself he would watch them both, as long as they slept. And if anyone came back and tried to hurt them, he would do more than he'd done last time. He knew it was silly, that he hadn't exactly done _nothing_ , it was just… He tried so hard to set himself apart from who his father was, and in some ways it just seemed like the choices he made would be the things to make him his own man, not just Joseph West's son. But now he worried if those choices would get his new friends hurt… or killed…

He wasn't going to change himself. That was simple enough for him to hold on to as a rule. He would stay Wallace West, and he would make it out of here still being Wallace West, who was his own man, not just someone's son… or someone's brother.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	21. DAY 041 (vol 1, ch 21)

_A/N: Just to let you know, there_ will _be some cheat sheets/reference things put at your disposal in the week or so to come. I'd hoped to get something set up for so long and never got around to it until now, but it will finally be coming if you can hold out until then :)_

* * *

 _Day 41 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 21_

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**  
 ** _THE TIME SHIP WAVERIDER  
_ _(GRANT INNOVATIONS designation)_**

When they had come aboard the Waverider and insisted that they would not require separate quarters, everyone had assumed that they were a couple, and they had explained that they were not, that they simply wished to stay near one another. The others just wouldn't have understood the bond that unified them, how they had relied so on one another in the time after they had run from the resistance and before the Waverider had taken them on. They would go to sleep at night and if they were not within an arm's length of one another it just wouldn't work.

So they had shared their quarters from the start. The fact that things had changed between them, become… well, what everyone else already assumed, regardless of their protests to the contrary… only made things easier. Right now though… being back in War, dealing with the attack, the first, while fearing a second… Gideon could not act as though it did not rattle her, because of course it did. It did, and no matter what they did, it would continue to rattle her until they were able to leave. And that wasn't looking any closer to happening.

As much as she worried about whether she'd be able to keep it together, she knew she also worried about Rip… as much as he worried for her. No one but she could know what it felt like, to have woken up, back then, like a brand new person, a blank slate, and then to discover the wings, the strength… and him. There was nothing in her mind in the beginning, nothing but the hawk and him. She hadn't known it was _him_ yet, but she could feel… something as close to her as her own heart. She felt his anguish, and it anguished her right back.

And then to understand that she had been a person before, with a life that she couldn't remember… In that respect, she felt the only other person who might have understood, who might have come close, was the one called Black Siren, Kara Danvers. At least she knew her name, knew where she'd come from, whether she remembered it or not. All she had was a name… Gideon… and she could only assume it was her surname. If she had a family out there, alive or dead… she hadn't found a trace of anyone she could have been connected to.

Some nights she would have nightmares, terrible dreams… but then, just as she did on this new morning, she would awaken to an arm around her, or a hand holding hers… Rip… It wouldn't matter that their bond had been born of what had been done to them in Project Horus. It was there, _he_ was there, and nothing else really mattered, did it?

Down in the cargo bay, there were fifteen cots and all but two had been occupied over that night, though on the matter of sleep or none, it was hard to tell. Some were very good at pretending they were asleep even if they weren't. Others were not as good but were given a pass. Others had the unfortunate issue of being linked to another and thus completely robbed of the ability to pretend.

The conversation was hardly that, as neither of them even spoke, but then the impressions that came off of them was enough that they knew what the other intended. Barry had turned his head, lying on his cot, and looking at Eobard he knew the man did not sleep, though he might look to the world as though he did. It took a minute or so before his being busted finally resulted in Eobard's opening his eyes, even if he kept staring at the ceiling.

Barry would think that it hadn't been his fault, not really. Eobard would think that, yes, it _had_ been his fault, because when there had been an option for things to turn out differently, he had been the one to make it so that they didn't. There was remorse in him now, unlike when the whole thing had happened, and he couldn't pretend as though he didn't feel it.

The day before, when they'd been out in the city, they had seen a young man, and they had recognized him at once. They hadn't been merged at the time, and the young man didn't recognize them back, but seeing him, just months since the last time they'd seen him… The first time they had seen him, and the last until the day before, had been back on Main. He had been a breacher then, and Firestorm had found him. It was the old argument, with Barry wanting to help him, and Eobard wanting to send him back where he came from without a second consideration.

It had taken very little to show Eobard another side to the picture, after going into Mist, and especially now with everything they'd seen in War, but back then… back then the only picture he saw was that these people needed to be swiftly returned where they had come from, maybe even discouraged against ever crossing again. Barry had not done nearly as much as Eobard had wanted him to at the time, had only seen to it that the young man would be returned to where he'd come from.

And that had been the last they'd heard of him until yesterday, when they had found him, sitting in the street. He barely looked alive, barely looked to care whether or not he'd get to hold on to what little life he had left in him.

Now, lying in his cot on the Waverider, Eobard's mind was nothing but that image, and the thought of how he'd been, when they'd seen him on Main. Any of them who were in any way aware of Breach Earth and those who would cross over would know that it took someone with determination to find their way across. And in just those months, the young man had lost it all.

 _Then get up,_ Barry thought. _Get up, and make sure it doesn't happen again._ Now Eobard looked at him. And he sat up.

"Kara…" Alexandra Danvers whispered, sitting up on her own cot, too, and looking down to her little sister in the one next to her. "Kara Danvers, you couldn't fake being asleep when we were little, and you still suck at it now. Please, just look at me." The 'sleeping' Kara turned on her side, away from her sister. "Fine. Allow me to show you what I'd do back then. I just hope the cot can survive it." A hand shot back blindly before she could make a move, and finally Kara sat up, staring at her. "I promise, I'm not trying to talk about you-know-what."

"Yes, you are," Kara whispered back at her.

"You say you're so good at reading people, tell me if I'm lying. I'm not going to ask about the drawing." Kara sighed, getting up and moving out of the cargo bay. Alexandra followed. "I heard you can make whatever you want to eat, the ship just… creates it for you. I'm thinking waffles, you?"

"Cereal, I guess," Kara shrugged as they moved toward the galley.

"Come on, you can be a bit more creative than that," Alexandra insisted. She was trying to get her to cheer up, Kara knew. She'd dealt with this maneuver more than once in the time since she'd been back in Haven with her mother and her sister. Always, she could never respond to it the way they wanted her to, it just felt as though they wanted to draw something out of her that just wasn't there. They wanted their old Kara… That was always what they wanted, like who she was, who she'd grown up to be in War, didn't matter. Kara Zeta was just the thing that stood in the way of Kara Danvers.

"I want cereal. That's what I want," Kara held her ground, and to her credit Alexandra knew when not to push, when to crank the prodding cheerfulness back down.

"What kind of cereal? The sweeter the better, right?" When Kara's face volunteered a barely reined in smile, Alexandra gave one back. She remembered, when Kara had first come back to Haven, she'd fallen into a period where sugary cereal was all she ate in the morning, and sometimes at lunch… or dinner… if she could get away with it. It was something she would hide from them, like she still didn't fully trust them enough to show that here was this thing that made her feel happy, one thing that Haven had, that War didn't. If there had been one thing to help smooth the transition over for Kara, it had been the food.

When they arrived in the galley, they found a few of the others had already wandered in. J'onn and M'gann sat at a table, along with Nyssa, while at another table there sat Seeker, along with Evelyn and Carter. The breach hopper appeared to have taken it upon herself to show the two War lifers the wonder of food from beyond their quarter.

"Kara, you have to eat this!" Evelyn called, holding up a donut.

"Oh, she has, believe me," Alexandra chuckled. Despite her call for cereal as they'd walked toward the galley, Kara had gladly accepted the proffered donut, sprinkles and all, before she and her sister at the table with the others.

"Heard you three went by the Trades yesterday," Carter looked to Kara. He was presently making his way through a stack of French toast, six slices strong and covered in butter and syrup.

"We did," she confirmed, tearing a piece from the donut and eating it.

That had been another blast from the past if there ever was one. It was the kind of place you could easily get the feel for, no expectations, no highs or lows, just a comfortable middle… Anyone who sought to cause trouble would get tossed out. Anyone who thought they were above anyone else… would get an earful, and then get tossed out. And anyone who wanted to know something and knew how to ask it would get what they were after, if it was something to be had.

"Like I told them, everyone was still reeling from the WQI. A lot of words, a lot of anger…" Seeker recounted, and on that she was more than right. It felt like, given the chance, the regulars of the Trades would descend upon whoever had dared go near the WQI.

"They didn't know anything," Alexandra confirmed. "But if they ever found out anything, they would find a way to let us know." It could have seemed as though they had gotten nothing out of their trip to the Trades, but that was not how they'd felt, leaving the place. Kara had faith that it could still be the thing they needed to find whoever was responsible, and so did Seeker, and Alexandra had come to adopt that same faith.

In no time, the collected crew of the Waverider had found itself amassed inside the galley, and as there was nowhere else for the conversation to turn, it had become as good a time and place as any for them to discuss the previous day, and the day to come.

The belief that the next attack would be directed toward the resistance army base found several followers, although it was not fully accepted. Some believed they would keep on taking out the infirmaries, and then, after none were left… then they would go for something even bigger. Some believed that they would go after ARGUS instead, wiping out 'the nosey outsiders.' Whichever way the opinions went though, the one thing they could all regretfully agree upon was that there _would_ be a second attack. They just didn't know when it would happen. It might have been today, like it could have been in a week, or longer… Would they let the people recover, maybe get back some sense of security, before striking again, or would they come at them while they were still vulnerable?

"All we can do now is to keep looking, keep trying to figure out who is behind this, keep trying to stop it happening again before it does. We have to go on, assuming it will happen and that it will happen sooner rather than later," Ralph told those gathered around him.

"Are they getting any closer, at Stein Labs?" Kara turned to Evelyn and Carter next to her, knowing they had been out there yesterday while she and the others had been going through the city.

"Not exactly. It's hard to tell with them," Evelyn replied. "They don't talk much. Then again, I guess with that whole thing with their daughters…"

"All we know is that the shell, the one they used in the WQI, it's not one of ours," Carter added.

"What do you mean?" Alexandra asked.

"It wasn't made here, in War," he told her. At this, Kara had looked around, then moved off to find one of them that was an ARGUS agent.

"Hey, so you guys are all over the place, right? An outpost in every quarter?" she asked him.

"Uh, yeah, why?" Winn asked.

"Did you ask around to any of them about that shell?"

"We did, we're waiting to hear back." Off the look she gave him, he explained that, according to any number of agents he'd contacted the day before, they were being stretched thin as it was at the moment. "With the added breacher activity on Main, they're either processing the ones that are being returned or trying to figure out how or why they're all doing it and trying to stop them."

That just seemed to be the problem everywhere these days, wasn't it? Kara had returned to her table with a frown, sitting again between her sister and Evelyn.

Trying to figure out what to do next, the gathered crew in the galley were all very much aware that everything they meant to do was in one way or another dictated by one overwhelming concern. They had seen what the weapon could do, they knew how affective it could be, which meant that at any moment something like the WQI, like the test at the school, could happen again, and they knew that the whole thing could be changed easily enough, could be triggered by little more than someone feeling like they needed to push back. If they, in this room, made them change their plans and people died because of it…

So they had to be careful. They were sure if those responsible were in the city, paying attention, they'd know that they were out there, looking for them, but so far they hadn't tipped their hand. They had worked a long time to get this going, they had a long reach, had to, in order to have managed to draw the people of Mist to get them the water, then to prepare it and to make tests, and their first big strike…

"Did the resistance find anything useful?" Nyssa asked.

"As to whoever delivered the shell into WQI, they were able to remain unseen from the network," Ralph told her.

"What if they're in there?" Mike spoke up, and they looked to him. "In the resistance base. They could have someone in there, pretending to be part of the resistance, or they could have turned someone. It'd make it easier to make sure they don't get caught." The possibility, as much as they would hope for it not to be true, or even likely, was actually too close to possible to be ignored.

"Who puts out the call to shelter, and the other one, when it's over?" Rory asked.

"The resistance," Slade answered.

"How did they know that it was needed at the WQI?" Alexandra asked, not an accusatory tone but an inquiring one.

"It depends," Seeker told her. "There's a signal, someone can call in, like calling the police or anything like that, and it will be verified. Either that, or the network, or… If there are explosions, fire…" What it came down to was that it was just as possible that they'd received a call from outside – from someone who'd seen something, or someone who wanted to ensure maximum fatalities – or that someone had faked a signal and thrown up the call to shelter.

"We need to know who made the call on the WQI," Kara declared.

"We can look into it, so long as we don't give off the wrong message. The last thing we need right now is for the General to shut us down," Ralph pointed out.

Within the hour, the crew was on the move, everyone with their own tasks to accomplish. Those who'd been at Stein Labs the day before would be returning again this morning. Some would be headed to the resistance base, looking into the dreaded possibilities. Some would reconnect with the regulars at the Trades once again. Others would continue to canvas the city, looking for guidance from the people as much as from their own eyes. And others would be looking for suspicious activities around their list of potential targets.

The best they could hope for was to get through to the end of the day, back here on the Waverider, with more information and still no second attack. They didn't believe they would get that best case scenario, not with how things had been going so far, but they knew all too well that holding on to that small bit of hope could be the thing that kept them going, and so they held on… They held on with both hands and a firm grip.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	22. DAY 043 (vol 1, ch 22)

_Day 43 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 22_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **OUTSIDE THE RESISTANCE ARMY BASE**

This was the frontrunner among their group, when everyone had been left to consider the next place that might be hit with the Mist weapon. Ralph had taken Detective Raatko along with him when he'd gone in to look into the suspicions they had all expressed back on the ship, and to see what was being done in the event that the base _would_ be the target. While they were inside, Barry and Eobard stood outside the gates, looking at the vast spread of the gates, of the buildings within.

"This is ARGUS headquarters," Barry realized. "At least that's where it is, back on our Earth."

"It looks that way," Eobard agreed.

They had seen plenty of the resistance soldiers since their arrival here. They would walk along the city, among the people, their uniforms at times being little more than clothes of the right colors, though paired with the arm bands that identified them. From what they'd heard, it was sometimes needed; they couldn't keep up with the need for the uniforms.

Maybe because of that, or because of the way they would be seen interacting with the people, it just became more and more evident the place they occupied in the city. They wore the uniform, the band, they were recognized as resistance, but underneath all that they were what they had always been. They were the people of War, the people who had stood to place themselves between the enemy and the city of their birth, but still its people. And the others, even if they wore no uniform, were just as devoted to keeping their city alive.

"Taking the base down won't take the resistance down," Barry said what he'd been thinking, what they'd both been taking.

"It won't," Eobard concurred. "The resistance isn't the building, it's them… all of them. They live. They resist. Taking the base down will only make them stand up faster, and it won't be a resistance anymore, it'll be a revolution."

"So what is it then? Either this is 'the enemy' and they won't touch the base, or the resistance would take out its own base to shift everyone else into the fight," Barry spelled it out, holding one hand up and then the other. "They hit the WQI first."

"And the school," Eobard reminded him. Pointing out that there hadn't been kids at the school almost felt pointless now; there had been kids at the WQI… there had been many of them, and now they were on their way to an urn.

"Guess it all depends on where the resistance stands, but… I don't think it'll be the base," Barry shook his head. Eobard didn't either. "The other infirmaries?"

"Maybe…" Eobard replied, though here again he didn't sound convinced. The silence stretched on as they both tried to think of where the strike might be. They weren't from here, neither of them. No matter what information they'd picked up along the way, they wouldn't have known enough to make a truly educated guess.

X

 **INSIDE THE RESISTANCE ARMY BASE**

Deciding who would go into the base had been complicated. They didn't want to come off as though they bore suspicions, even if they did. Making too strong of a show would absolutely tip their hands. And if they brought any ARGUS agents it would increase the possibilities of someone wondering if the 'nosey' agents were overstepping their bounds again. Ralph would go, having already dealt with the General and been inserted into proceedings, and he would take Detective Raatko with him. No one in War was aware of her occupation back on Main, and he would pass her off as a prospective new addition to the Waverider's permanent crew.

There had plenty they wanted to find out while being here, but they couldn't be too obvious about it, which might have meant letting some of their queries go in order to focus on those most important ones. They needed to find out about the previous day's call to shelter. If they could, they also wanted to see this footage surrounding the WQI and the building from which the shell had been launched. They'd been told there was no sighting of the launch, but they wanted to see how that could have been possible. If they saw the places the launcher had not been, that should have told them where he or she _had_ been, even if they couldn't see them, shouldn't they?

The base was in full activity. All available personnel, if they weren't already out in the city, was here, preparing to move into action at a moment's notice. As the two of them were being escorted along, both Ralph and Nyssa noticed one group in particular. They only needed to look at them to know what they were… new recruits. Nothing would boost their numbers quite as swiftly as a new threat looming. Ralph turned to the detective, and he knew she had to be thinking what he was thinking. Wouldn't that be exactly what they should want? Why did it leave them uneasy?

They were taken to see the General. As they had agreed beforehand, they would lead with what they had learned so far about the shell. It was from another quarter, not War, although they had yet to identify its origins, due to another situation keeping ARGUS and its agents stretched thin. But now, while they were here, new Waverider recruit Nyssa was curious as to how the call to shelter functioned. It was their doing, wasn't it?

"Yes," the General confirmed. "It has been a vital component of our day to day lives, keeping countless citizens alive in times of crisis."

"Like the WQI," Nyssa nodded.

"Yes," the General said once again, though this time with the heaviness of those memories on her shoulders. Every death under her watch was one too many, one she held herself responsible for. "Only by the time we learned of that one, it was already too late for those within the infirmary. We had no idea what it was, only that there had been an attack, so we made the call…" Silence again, thinking of the consequences.

That call to shelter might as well have been a call to the grave. It had drawn more victims to fall under the effects of the Mist weapon.

"Just a thought, but when you checked the network for any sightings of the launch and who made it, were there any blindspots?" Ralph asked the General. She looked at him, quickly understanding what he meant and showing she wasn't sure. She motioned for the two of them to follow her and they went toward the network hub. Here, they were shown all the available footage surrounding the time of the attack on the WQI, and it really was everything that was available. As they had been told, they could see nothing. But they wouldn't come away from this with nothing. There _was_ a blindspot

The General had been quick to instruct the soldier at the screen to follow that blindspot, try to find footage from elsewhere that might uncover it, might at least direct them to where the launcher may have gone or come from. As they waited, the General turned to Ralph, giving him a nod. He stood up straight, nodding back to her. There had never been any doubt in his mind that, if there was an enemy within the resistance, she would neither be aware nor be involved, and he was even more certain of it now. More importantly though, he was getting to think their suspicions, while valid, had been unfounded. It wasn't about the resistance…

X

 **THE TRADES**

Kara, Alexandra, and Seeker had set out for another trip down to the Trades that morning. It had really felt to them, since their previous visit, that this would be the place to be, to find out where the next attack would be. These were the people who heard things, and even if they didn't hear everything, they knew the city like no one else… If anyone out there had any educated guesses, the educated guesses _here_ were at the top of their class.

This was where Kara had first learned that there was someone called Seeker, and that she was able to travel between worlds. Alexandra had been told about this, and it came as no surprise, with how the both of them were known here. Every so often, some patron or another would see them sitting at the bar, and they would come up to greet them. More than one had swept her little sister in a jovial hug, wondering where she had disappeared off to, even though they more than likely knew… This _was_ the Trades after all.

"On a grim night or two, now you gave us quite a show," a man would say, chuckling. Alexandra, turning to her sister, would find her smiling, remembering, before Kara would explain her 'act.' The barkeep would line up empty bottles all along the edge of the bar, and, standing at one end of it, and the Black Siren would direct her cry with a trained precision, until not a bottle was left standing in one piece, much to the cheers of the regulars of the Trades.

"She saved my life," a woman had added at another time. "My old house, now that's old as in former and as in ancient, finally collapsed after one too many attacks nearby. Nearly took me and a few others along with it. But she found me in the wreck." She had hugged Kara when she'd seen her, and now she hugged her again, and Alexandra could only look at her little sister.

She was beloved here. It wasn't just Laura Zeta and Doctor Stein, not just Mistral and Ragman. Alexandra had wanted to come here, to get a better idea of who her sister had been when she'd been Kara Zeta, and she was finally getting to see it. And what she saw… She had never completely understood the sacrifice Kara had made in coming back to them, like she had never known her as the woman she'd grown into as she did now.

She was Kara Danvers for her sake, for their mother's. But in her heart she had never stopped being and would always be Kara Zeta of War. The Black Siren.

"The resistance?" she heard a man say, and she was pulled out of her thoughts to see he was talking with Seeker, who must have asked if he thought this would be the next target. "What would that get them? No, no…" he shook his head with firm belief.

"Then what are they after?" Seeker asked him. The man considered this, and others who had been sitting near and listening in did the same. After a minute or so, the man and the others near him shared a look, a thought revealing itself in their heads, and they nodded to one another with shared confidence.

"What is it?" Kara asked them, growing just a bit impatient. The man turned back to her, looking at once proud of his own cleverness but also to dread its implications for the city.

"Division," he declared. They didn't understand. "You said how they had first been at one of the schools, yeah?"

"For a test," Kara nodded.

"And then the WQI," the man counted off. "Think for a moment. What do the schools and the infirmaries have in common?"

It clicked, for Kara and for Seeker, much faster than they would have thought, not following the regulars' trail of thought until then, and they looked to one another, understanding growing in them. Only Alexandra couldn't know what the man was suggesting, but when her sister and the breach hopper had gotten up from their stools and moved to leave the Trades, she followed at once.

"What do they have in common?" she asked, looking to each of them.

"They're communal," Seeker told her.

"How?" Alexandra asked.

"Whoever they align themselves with in the end, a school's a school. It's not 'resistance aligned kids here, enemy aligned kids there,'" Kara explained.

"Though they've tried," Seeker added. "They're _neutral._ "

"And so are the infirmaries," Alexandra understood.

"You attack a place like that, there's no saying which side made the hit. It wasn't just the resistance that lost people yesterday," Kara went on.

"What are the other neutral zones?" Alexandra asked them both. "ARGUS…"

"No. They're not that kind of neutral, they're just not part of any of it, neither side," Seeker told her. "It's the places where the people of War are neutral with each other. Two extremes, together, because there's no other way to function."

"If it's not another one of the infirmaries, then I think I know where," Kara added, turning to Seeker. "We need to hurry." Without even needing to stop, she'd pointed them in the direction of the nearest passage she knew of, to get them back to the ARGUS outpost and the Waverider.

X

 **STEIN LABS**

"If we know where they will hit, I think we might be able to disperse it into the air. We might not be able to stop the shell cracking, but if we get this into the air, it might be able to… not cancel out the Weapon's effect, but near enough that we might actually have a shot at treating the victims, stop them from dying. We couldn't immunize everyone, it just couldn't happen, but this would be – I think – our best option," Wells was telling Stein and Zeta.

"Provided we know where they will attack," Doctor Stein pointed out, trying not to sound in any way defeated somewhere inside. "And that we can produce and disperse the neutralizer in time."

"I can help," Evelyn declared, making the three of them turn to look at her like they'd briefly forgotten that she was there. "With dispersal," she motioned, finishing by pointing at the pendant around her neck.

"You could end up in the middle of the strike," Laura Zeta pointed out.

"I understand. I also understand that they killed my parents in the WQI," she told them. She stopped to breathe, remembering how she'd found their bodies. They could hardly deny her now; they knew she'd go whether they wanted her to or not.

So they had set themselves to creating the neutralizer, in sufficient quantities for as wide of an area as they could expect to need to cover. As they worked, Evelyn would sit or stand nearby, watching them.

Looking at them, she could see they all had their daughters on their minds. Laura Zeta thought of Kara, who'd been back after all this time, who would leave again in time. But then the other two… They were still dealing with the discoveries they'd made the day before. She kind of felt bad for them.

She didn't know what it was like to grow up in Haven, like Wells' girl did, but going off of the name alone… She hadn't heard the word before, but they'd told her what it meant. Refuge, sanctuary… safety. That sounded nice, made her wonder how anyone could ever turn into what Jesse Wells had become, coming from there, but she guessed everyone had their problems, no matter whether they grew up here or anywhere else.

Now, Lily Stein's turn, she could sort of understand. How many of the kids that she'd gone to school with as a kid did she now know that fought on the enemy's side? People who weren't from here, they might not get how anyone who'd grown up here would choose _that_ side, but those who _had_ been born to this place, or spent long enough in it that it wouldn't make much of a difference, like Kara… They knew what would make someone choose the protection of the enemy over the uncertainty of the resistance. They didn't exactly give them a pass, but they knew where it came from, near enough.

Then again, in Lily Stein's case, Evelyn wasn't actually sure if she _did_ align herself to the enemy or if whatever she was doing had nothing to do with one or the other. For all she knew, she might have been a Tradeswoman like her, caught in the middle, or just neutral…

"No, oh!" she sprang up from her seat suddenly. The others all turned to look at her. It was right there, on the edge of… "It's not the base, it's not," she gestured sort of frantically.

"Hey, easy," Carter stood, trying to calm her.

"It's the prison," Evelyn told him, her gaze insistent, letting his thoughts catch up with hers. "The school, the infirmary… the _prison_."

"Oh…" Laura Zeta breathed as she understood, too. Right then, Kara came dashing in, Alexandra and Seeker on her trail. They'd been so caught up, they hadn't seen them come through in the corridor, the usual spot. But now they were here, and going off the frantic look on their faces, it seemed they'd figured something out, too.

"It's not the base," Kara told them. "We think it might be…"

"The prison," Doctor Stein filled in. "Yes, your young friend had the same thought just now." This was not a time to feel in any way territorial on the discovery. The consensus only made it that much more probable, and now they had to do something about it.

"I'll get in touch with the others. If they haven't figured it out and started moving already, they'll have to get on that," Catherine told them. "Get that neutralizer going, we don't know how much time we have left."

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	23. DAY 045 (vol 1, ch 23)

_A/N: There is now a preliminary/basic character list in my profile here, figured it'd be good to have there, especially until I can get the more in depth info mounted up. If there's any info in particular you'd like to see in there, let me know! :)_

* * *

 _Day 45 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 23_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **EIGHT YEARS AGO**

The Call to Shelter had started to ring across the city, which was good and fine if you had shelter to go to. They did not, not officially.

"Hold on, okay?" Carter called over his shoulder as she held on, her arms locked around his neck, her legs locked around his waist, like an eleven-year-old girl-shaped backpack. He didn't doubt that she could run fast, but he could run faster.

"Where are we going?" Evelyn asked.

"The Trades. We'll be safe there," he promised.

"Where's that?"

"You'll see." He really hoped she'd see it.

They didn't know what was happening, didn't know where it was happening. It was the only flaw of the Call, really, but then he guessed there was only so much they could ask for. Already the warning was more than just going on with their day and then getting caught up in the middle of whatever was happening out there. He might have tried the EQI, the school, something, but the Trades was closest, and he worried if he took _her_ into one of those places, he'd never get her back out again. They'd take her away, and he knew she wanted that about as much as he did, which was not at all.

"Hey!" he shouted as they neared the doors to the Trades, just as they were being closed.

"Quickly, come on!" the woman just inside pushed the door open again, waving them over. As soon as he'd skidded past, she'd shut the door again, locked it. Carter stopped, out of breath, as Evelyn climbed down, scared because of the Call but just a bit amazed at the inside of the Trades. She hadn't been many places in the few weeks since she'd been taken away from the prison, but this was definitely her favorite one.

"Are you okay?" she asked, turning back to Carter, still bent over, hands on his knees and breathing hard. He gave her a nod, coughing.

"Here, drink up," the woman brought him some water. He was twenty-two, and if not for his having spent the years he'd spent in the QZ, he might have been in better shape. Right now he looked like he might be sick for having run as fast and as hard as he'd done, with her on his back. "Are you hungry, sweetheart?" the woman looked to Evelyn, who couldn't lie to save her life when it came to food. She nodded at once, and the woman laughed, bringing her to the counter, lifting her on to a stool – she was pretty short for her age – and going away before returning a few seconds later with a plate she set before her new client. Even winded, Carter called her name and she sighed.

"Thank you, ma'am," she spoke, and the woman laughed again.

"Think you'll be able to share once he's able to breathe again?" she asked, and Evelyn chewed at her lip. "One more helping on the way," the woman nodded and disappeared again.

Once Carter _had_ been able to breathe again, he'd taken a seat next to Evelyn, already nearly done chowing through the contents of her plate, and he'd started in on his own. For as scared as she still sort of was, thinking of what was happening outside, she hadn't felt this good in so long. The closest she'd felt had been before her mother had died… before she'd gotten sick… and this might actually have topped it.

After a while, as he'd eaten through at least two thirds of his plate and he could see her – with her cleaned out plate – staring saucers at his leftovers, he'd slid the plate to her and she had hummed a quick thanks before falling in on the remaining food. He'd chuckled, nudging at her shoulder, and she'd smiled up at him. From that day on, the Trades had been their shelter, whenever shelter was needed, Call or no Call. There was no resistance for them, and they'd never stoop to the enemy's level. They were Tradespeople, free and content.

X

 **TODAY**

 **OUTSIDE THE PRISON**

Evelyn Sharp needed to stand here, just for a little while, before she would have to go past the gates. They didn't know, all of them that she'd joined since the day before, not even Kara. Only Carter knew, and for good reason. He'd been the one to rescue her from this place.

She had lost her parents at the WQI, but they had not been her birth parents, no. Those parents she'd lost right here, years ago. They had been locked up, both of them, even as she grew inside her mother's belly. She had been born here, had lived here, until about halfway through her eleventh year. Her father had died… she wasn't sure when, only that he _had_ died. She'd never actually met him. The children born in the prison stayed with their mothers, and that was that.

Then her mother had died, when Evelyn was eight. She'd wasted away in feverish agony for eighteen days before fading in her sleep. And then she was alone, without a family. Never to be accused of tossing orphaned children on to the streets of the war torn city, the prison would continue giving them a home, provided that they worked their way, depending on their age. It was a perfectly respectable system, and they were treated well enough.

Even then though, for having known the affection, the love of her mother all her life, Evelyn knew the difference between common decency and actual care, and they were not cared for. They were tolerated. And starved for the care and attention she no longer had, she'd rebelled against what she was getting instead. After that, she'd learned just how much less she could have. If Carter hadn't found her when he did, she knew with near certainty that she wouldn't still be alive today.

He had gotten her out of there, and he had done his best for a few months, trying to provide for her, having as little to his name as she did. He had his rags, and she had her mother's necklace, preciously and painstakingly kept hidden for all these long years. She hadn't known what it could do, not in the beginning. If she had, she would have wondered how her mother had ever allowed herself to be kept behind locked doors.

After those months, he had done what he thought best for her, and he'd found her a home, a family, the very one she had lost at the WQI. And they were good people, sure. But she hadn't felt safe since her mother had died, but Carter, he made her feel safe, like she'd lost a mother and gained a brother in her place. That was how they'd started running together, him and her. The circumstances of their lives had left them in the happy medium of Tradespeople, and they wouldn't have had it any other way.

But now here they were, back to those dreaded gates. Whatever side you aligned yourself to, it didn't matter. If you were brought in, you were brought in, and you did your time. And now someone wanted to bring it down. Years ago, she would have gladly seen it happen, though not with the people still inside, of course. She wasn't going to let everyone in there be killed, not for this, or anything.

"I never wanted to go in there again," she spoke, staring off toward the women's cellblocks.

"Remember why you're going," Carter told her. He didn't say anything like 'you don't have to' or 'you can still change your mind,' because that wasn't who she was, what either of them was. They cared for the people, their people, and never would it be said that they'd left any of them to die senselessly because they were scared.

"I remember," she promised. Now she just needed to wait for the go ahead from Ralph.

X

 **RESISTANCE ARMY BASE**

As convinced as their team was that the next target would be the prison, the resistance had not been so easily swayed. They still believed that their base would be hit, and they would not have their forces diverted on the say so of deserters and agents of the nosy interlopers of ARGUS. They insisted that Wells' neutralizer be used to protect the base, the resistance itself. As much as they'd been able to produce already, there was no telling when the attack would take place, which could leave them with the means to protect only one location.

The resistance wanted it to be their base. What point would there be to go after the prisoners? No matter how much they ran back through their hypothesis, they wouldn't have it.

It would be down to the General to make the choice, they knew. And, looking at her, all they could see was indecision. Unlike the vast majority of her soldiers, she did see the validity of Waverider crew's claim… but she could also say the same for her soldiers' fervent belief that the base was a more likely target. Those of them who had served under her, who had lived under her leadership of their resistance, knew that, when it came down to it, she may well have had no choice but to listen to her soldiers. So she kept quiet, she listened. She left them the chance to make their case, to convince the masses.

The swaying of the army was not happening. It was the base, and the more they tried to convince them otherwise, the more hostile they grew, the more they wanted them to leave, get on their ship and sail off, to leave them to take care of _their_ home.

But the Waverider was convinced. Not just convinced, no. Standing on the outside as they did, but also on the inside, by virtue of having the WarRiders, and Kara, and Seeker, and the team at Stein Labs, and Evelyn and Carter and the rest of the Tradespeople… It was the prison, and they'd be willing to put all their money on it. That was why Evelyn and Carter were out there now, waiting, with the neutralizer at the ready. They would wait until they were told to go, but if things didn't change here… they might have to surrender their supply for the base.

X

 **OUTSIDE THE PRISON**

"It's taking too long. Do you think we were wrong? What if they attacked the base, and now everyone is just dead back there?" Evelyn looked back to Carter, concern in her eyes.

"Do you think we were wrong?" he asked. She didn't even have to think about it.

"No," she shook her head.

"Then we're not wrong, we're right where we're supposed to be. It's just taking a while for them to decide." He wasn't saying it, but she could see it in his face. He thought he knew why they hadn't come yet, or contacted them. He thought the resistance wouldn't see it the same way they did.

Evelyn looked back toward the women's cellblocks. She thought about the people she had known there, not the guards, not any of those who worked for the prisons. She thought about the prisoners, about the other children who, like her, were left to grow up in there because they had nowhere else to go. She thought about the WQI, all those bodies everywhere. None of them deserved to end like that. Not the ones who'd died back at the infirmary, at the school. Not the ones who were still alive, right now, inside the prison, without any idea of what was coming for them.

"We can't just keep standing here. We have to go in, we have to spread the neutralizer. It's their only chance." She looked back to Carter. He was considering their options, too. When she saw him fix his coat of rags, she knew he was with her.

The fortunate part of having broken in and out of this place before – or just out, in her case – was that they had a good idea of how to do it. By the time they stood on the other side of the gates, within minutes of their choosing to just go in, they were once again left to think of how it was so easy that it was a wonder so few of the prisoners actually managed it; it was almost a joke.

Catherine Grant had given them instructions as to idea dispersal zones, to ensure that they had the entire gated area covered. They had five canisters.

They kept silent, conversing in exchanged hand signals. He would keep watch around her as she did what she had to do at each of their assigned locations. At the first one, slipping on her mask (so not to find herself dosed again and again) she got into position, placing the canister before pulling it open. Touching the red jewel at her throat, she felt the power in her at once, and she used her winds to disperse the neutralizer. There'd be no telling if it worked, not unless the second attack opened, but she could almost see it, the neutralizer spreading out and out, until the canister was spent.

"Next place," she told Carter with her hands, and they moved on.

The second location had been just as simple, and even the third. But then the fourth… the fourth would take them on to the women's side, and it would mean all those memories, her childhood… her mother… She was afraid.

"Let's go," her hands told him.

X

 **RESISTANCE ARMY BASE**

In time maybe their stalling, their continued attempts to sway them, had tipped the resistance on to the reason for their taking as long as they did to hand over the neutralizer: it wasn't here. It was at the prison already. It had lifted a roar of voices against them, which might have pushed them right out of the base, if not for the General calling them back to attention.

"Now that's enough!" she told her soldiers. "I don't recall training _children_ ," she addressed them with such firmness in her voice that, _had_ they been her children, they would all have been good and grounded. She turned back to Ralph and the collected Waverider crew, looked them over. She was aware enough to know there were some missing among them, validating her soldiers' ireful claim.

Before she could speak again, either defending or berating them, a young woman had come dashing forward.

"General, hostiles on high, within striking of the prison," she reported.

The resistance, the Waverider crew, the General, all were suddenly very quiet. After a moment, the General looked to her soldiers, before turning to Ralph.

"Is there time?" she asked him. He put his finger to his ear.

"Mistral, Ragman, are you there?" he called. There was no response. "Evelyn, Carter, respond." Still nothing.

"If they don't get the neutralizer distributed, it won't even matter if we hurry. It'll be over by the time we get there," Slade stated, looking over the blanching faces of the soldiers. "Even me."

X

 **THE PRISON**

 _"Evelyn, Carter, respond."_

They'd just finished dispersing the contents of the final canister and were on their way to leave the prison grounds again when a guard had spotted them. With his weapon trained on her as it was, Evelyn had to pause and think carefully before she did anything, and she had a good feeling that Carter was caught up in the same problem, keeping him from acting any faster than she could.

"Identify yourselves!" the guard demanded, and if she hadn't thought 'he looks so young' just as he spoke, as his voice cracked, she might not have recognized him. But she knew him, of course she did… He'd grown up here, too. By the looks of it, he'd stuck on to become one of the guards, which both made her a bit sad and very relieved.

"Don't you recognize me?" she asked. "It's Evie, remember?" He hesitated, but then he was looking at her, and she knew that, yes, he recognized her. He also didn't know why she was here. Just because he knew her, it didn't mean she wasn't here to do something he was supposed to keep her from doing. "You heard about the WQI, right?" she asked him. He frowned.

"That was you?" he asked, looking a little readier to shoot.

"What? No! I should hit you for that one." Raising one's voice at someone pointing a weapon at you was probably not on anyone's list of pointers about what to do if someone pointed a weapon at you, but in this case there had been the exception that it brought him back to when they were kids. She allowed herself the freedom to look back at Carter with a smirk. "He was my first kiss."

"Hey," he called her back to look at him, and she sighed.

"The people who attacked the WQI, they're going to attack here next, we figured it out. The reason we're here is because some friends of ours made something, a neutralizer. It's supposed to protect us in case…"

 _"Evelyn, Carter, if you can hear this, it's happening now! There's two shells in the air!"_ Ralph's voice in their ears was frantic. Two shells. Did that mean they'd split into smaller doses to cover the entire prison grounds, or had that they had doubled up? What if the neutralizer wasn't enough?

They heard them… the shells… they definitely heard one, a crash high overhead.

"Go! Get out of here!" she called to her old friend, turning to Carter just as he opened up his rags and dove to cover her.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	24. DAY 047 (vol 1, ch 24)

_Day 47 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 24_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **THE PRISON**

For the second time in far too short a period, the Call rang across War. As the Waverider crew and the resistance soldiers made for the prison, they could see all around them the consequence of the previous attack, on the WQI. It would have been that most everyone would have a good enough idea of where they were meant to go. If they didn't have anywhere else to go, if they couldn't get home, then they would make for the infirmaries. But they knew what had happened to that one infirmary, didn't they? What if another one of them was being attacked now, hadn't they heard what happened to those who'd run there?

So it was chaos. If they couldn't take to the infirmaries when shelter was needed, then where would they go? Some were kind enough to open their doors to strangers, while others seemed to be fighting off people attempting to get into their homes. If whoever had been perpetrating these attacks had done so with the intent of sending them all into disarray, then they had done it. Removing the safety of the infirmaries was showing more and more of its effects as time went on.

The prison was not a place one went to for shelter, quite the opposite, and at least for that they could take some small comfort in the knowledge that they wouldn't find people had run toward it like they had done at the WQI. Still, they arrived to find the gate guards laid out on the ground, several feet inside the perimeter, unable to come and let them in.

Without missing a beat, Superman and Valor had sailed into the air, flying over the gates and landing into a run toward the fallen man and woman, looking them over.

"This one's alive!" Superman called back. "He's weak, but he's alive." Valor had given a nod, showing the woman was also alive.

"They did it," Gideon looked to Rip, "The neutralizer." At once, the Hawks had flown, too, and on the other side they had gotten the doors open for the rest of them to enter.

"Masks on and activated at all times, quickly!" the General ordered, and her soldiers ran on.

"Evelyn, Carter, can you hear me?" Ralph was still trying. They hadn't heard a word from them still, but surely they had to be here, somewhere. They'd done their part, they had… _There's no way they'd have gotten it done in time._ They must have started before he'd told them to. Right now, if this turned out to have saved any lives, he wouldn't bat an eye, but he just knew it would come back at them in the end, because they had just done 'what the interlopers want.'

All of those who could be airborne were now flying about, finding and gathering any of those who'd been out of doors when the shells had fallen and spread their contents. The scent in the air was different than what it had been back at the WQI, and they could only guess that was due to the poison mingling with the neutralizer. Wells' creation, they knew, couldn't be expected to completely cancel out the effects, but already they could see it had done _something_. Here they found people, sick, yes, but not dead and gone as they had been at the infirmary.

"Down here!" Kara heard, as she and Alexandra ran along, about to enter one building. But then they heard the Atom's call from overhead, and looking to where he pointed, she saw…

"Carter…" she turned and made for the distinctive rags, there on the ground. For all she knew of that coat, she thought – she hoped – that they had protected him as they had done before. The closer they came now, they could see he was laid out on the ground, but seeing a pair of familiar boots sticking out the end, they knew he must have jumped to also cover and protect… "Evelyn?"

Approaching the huddled pair now, moving them, the sisters had breathed with relief. They were alive. Carter, for all the protection of his coat, seemed to have knocked himself out in his hurry to cover his friend. As for Evelyn, though she wore her mask, it didn't look as though she'd ever gotten to turn the shield on. The neutralizer had done most of the job, but there was the slightest clamminess to her skin that showed some of the poison had managed to find her.

Kara at once had turned her head up to the sky and let out a series of short and succeeding cries, which sounded very much to her sister like an alarm, and maybe it was a signal that the people of War were familiar with, because at once several of the resistance soldiers had come in their direction. They helped to carry both Carter and Evelyn to where they might be looked after, and finally the sisters moved to rejoin the rest of their group.

The prison counted hundreds of prisoners, of course, but then also guards and staff alike, and not a one of them had been left entirely without some touch of the attack. Their removal, their treatment, would be a long and complicated affair, and now more than ever. They had to get them _somewhere_ , and already this presented something of a problem.

"We'll have to divide them between the North, South, East Quadrant, and Central Infirmaries," the General declared, which didn't please some of the soldiers, and their point here was very much a sound one.

What if this was what they wanted? The ones who'd been attacking them… What if they got everyone packed into the remaining infirmaries, only to have those get hit, too? And then there was the fact that the majority of the victims here _were_ prisoners, criminals, some of them dangerous ones. What if any of them got loose because of this? What if _that_ was part of the plan?

There was nothing they could really do about that though. They'd just have to take their chances, to risk it, and to do what they had set out to do when they had joined the resistance army. So that settled it. The mobilization of the victims to the four infirmaries commenced, the endeavor likely to take hours, in which time the Call remained in effect, the better to keep the streets as clear as possible.

X

 **EAST QUADRANT INFIRMARY**

The last thing they would want to do would be to suggest it was a good thing that many had left the infirmaries following the attack of the WQI, but then as they stood, watching how the EQI filled, and filled, with its quarter of the victims of the prison attack, they were glad for every bed they could find unoccupied; those ran out in almost no time. Pre-existing patients, if they were in any way able to vacate their beds, were made to move, a demand met with any number of responses, some kinder than others.

They would have taken Carter and Evelyn back to the Waverider, treated them there, but they insisted they wanted to stay here. Carter had been quick to regain consciousness after he'd been found and carried away from the place where he'd fallen, while Evelyn had stirred a little while later, as they'd been preparing to fly her back to the ship. She looked just on this side of feverish, but she refused to go anywhere, so they had taken her along toward the infirmary, where she had been met with Laura Zeta and a dose of what, she hoped, would work to counteract her low levels of poisoning.

She would need rest to bounce back entirely, but she promised she felt better. Like Carter, all she wanted to do was help, in any way she could. She had found her old friend, the guard, in one of the beds. He had not been so lucky as her and still suffered for what amount of poisoning he had received, though she was assured he was not in danger of dying.

The pair looked around now, at the packed infirmary floor. It was all a mess, but it was a good mess. All these lives, saved by their actions and those of friends both new and old…

As the evacuation of the prison had been carried out, slowly but surely, they had been able to confirm that, on the greater whole, the deployment of the neutralizer had done what it was meant to do. Hundreds of them now were sick, some more, some less, but they were alive. There had been some deaths still, though those were attributed in great part to the people in question being already sick or recovering from any number of medical interventions. The poison, diminished in its effects though it had been, had come and carried them away.

"What happens if there _is_ another attack?" Barry asked, looking around. The city had barely started to recover from the WQI attack, but it hadn't been _recovered_ , not by a long shot, not yet, and now this was only going to set them back that much further. There would be nowhere for them to go, whether they wanted it or not. And then when the clashes started, sooner or later, between those aligned with the resistance and the enemy, it would only make matters worse. A third attack would be the end of everything.

"Is there anywhere else they would attack?" Eobard asked his own question, of Seeker, standing with them, too? "Another communal zone?"

She hated to even consider it. After the infirmary, after the prison, the only real one she could think of was maybe the worst of all to even imagine.

"Yes… and they might not spare the little ones this time," she spoke evenly. _The schools._ The two halves of Firestorm were quiet at this.

She hadn't been able to go past the gates on to the prison grounds along with the rest of them earlier. She'd meant to do it, she'd hoped that her problems wouldn't start on her as they'd done before, but then they'd reached the gates and she felt it, the breathlessness and the dizziness… She couldn't do it. So she'd stayed outside, doing what she could. When the vehicles started to arrive, to ferry out the victims, she helped direct them, dispatch them…

Now they were here, and the thought that this could happen again made her want to just be… somewhere else, anywhere else, not here, not in her quarter. She would look back on her childhood, sheltered from the reality of this city, as a shameful lie she had lived in, even though she'd had no choice in it, and on the years following her introduction into War as those of her personal awakening. She would find her place among her people, and some part of her would always belong here, but… She didn't know that she could ever come back here when they finally left again, and she didn't feel proud for it.

X

 **RESISTANCE ARMY BASE**

They had things under control now. This did not mean that everyone could sit, and breathe, and let the events of the day so far just settle over them. The infirmaries were still in the throes of patient care overload, the prison was being inspected, the air cleared as best as it could be hoped to be. In time they _would_ need to return all those prisoners back there, when they were medically cleared, and if the prison was still cordoned off, then they'd have nowhere to go but to remain in the infirmaries, which were not equipped to house them, not in that capacity.

The shells had been retrieved, though immediately in finding them they had been taken by surprise in seeing these were not identical to the previous one. They could not confirm it yet, but it looked as though it had come from another quarter, too, and not the same as the shell from the WQI.

The General was still in the process of organizing her people in response to the second attack. She had the Waverider crew to back her up, naturally, and she welcomed them with all her thanks. The outpost agents out of ARGUS, on the other hand, were told to remain out of the matter, and on this the reasoning was more than accepted. There was rising tension in the air, and it was felt that their involvement might not be so well received at this time. So they stayed back.

"We _are_ ARGUS as well, even if only a few of us wear the uniform," Ralph reminded her as they met.

"Yes, and I'm afraid in time even your people will need to step back, to let us handle things here," she told him. "That little maneuver down at the prison…"

"Miss Sharp and Mr. Hall are of the city," Ralph reminded her. "And they saved hundreds of people with that _maneuver_."

"And again, I am thankful, _we_ are thankful. But you know as well as I do that when all the thanks have been said, and felt, and we all go back to our lives, all that will remain will be that they acted, under your supervision, over the resistance's head."

"Are we so territorial?" he asked. She gave him a look, and he met it with one of his own. Yes, he had said 'we.' No matter what, this would always be his family.

"What we are is a city constantly living with one crisis at our backs and another hidden somewhere ahead of us, unseen, yes, but never far away. These attacks have come and wedged themselves in deep, to widen the cracks, and with this new one… we are very close to breaking into pieces. There won't be any coming back from that."

"Then use it to do the opposite of what they want to happen?" Ralph told her. She didn't understand. "Seal the cracks. For once in all this time, we have a common enemy, someone who's trying to break us apart, until there's nothing left, so let's not let them do it. Whatever they want out of this, let's not hand it to them on a platter."

They were both quiet for a few moments. Of course this would be what she wanted, what they would all want, deep down in the part of them that hoped, against all odds, that their home ever had a chance of being something else than what it was. No matter how much the greater part of them would hold to its impossibility, never willing to spot or recognize the existence of that smallest of sparks in them, it would have to be there, or else why even bother?

"Someday, I think I would like to see these other places you've been to," the General told him. "They have changed you," she went on, and the small smile on her face told him she saw it as a change for the better.

"We'll give you the grand tour," he tipped his head respectfully. _Maybe not Mist though,_ he added in his mind.

As he left her office and made to return to his crew, those of them who had followed him to the base, Winn's voice came at his ear. Ralph feared he was about to tell him another attack was on its way already, so close to the last one, but that wasn't it. It was something else, and it wasn't good either.

"What?" Seeker asked, seeing him and the look on his face first.

"There's been another abduction, back on Main," he revealed. "Ronnie Raymond," he told them, his eyes moving to Barry and Eobard, knowing this was their friend, their teammate.

"What happened?" Eobard asked.

"No footage this time, but a witness. He and Killer Frost were called to deal with some breachers who'd broken into a woman's home."

"Is she okay?" Barry asked.

"She will be. But now they have your friend."

"Where was Cait?" She would have been with them, backing them up.

"ARGUS Headquarters. She's pretty shaken up, but she's looking after Miss Jiwe now."

It was getting to feel like they would hit these speed bumps, time and time again, every time with the same thought coming back to them. _It never stops. There's too much._ Four of them had been taken now. They may not have known all of them, but it didn't matter, especially now, these problems here and back on Main bringing them all together the way it did. Whoever's team they belonged to, they were still their people, and someone had taken them. And they weren't stopping.

"Let's return to the ship," Ralph told them. "We need to regroup, figure out what comes next. And you'll be able to speak with your friends," he added, nodding to Barry and Eobard, who nodded back at once.

Trekking back through the city toward the ARGUS outpost, they could see… The Call had been lifted now, the people were slowly emerging, talking. They were finding out what had happened at the prison. And the consequences of this hit, on top of the one at the WQI, were starting to brew. Furtive glances were being thrown, to those they knew stood on the other side of the divide. Suspicion, anger. Ralph thought of the General, back in her office, and he hoped, oh, he hoped, she would heed his words. There'd been too much death, too much destruction, in the city he had once called home.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 1)_


	25. DAY 049 (vol 1, ch 25)

_Day 49 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 25_

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **SOMEWHERE…**

The room didn't give them much in the way of contact with the outside world, so although they were somewhat aware of the passage of time, it felt more like they'd been in here for one long stretch of time, sleeping sometimes, eating other times… It didn't feel like they had been there for over two days, at least some of them. They were still going along on the assumption that they would find a way out of here… eventually. If it ever got to the point where they became resigned to their fate, then it would get several times worse than it was now.

Wallace and Zari remained seated on the ground, quietly sorting out the contents of the latest tray, moving spent packages aside so they saw what remained. As they did this, they watched Mag and Ronnie, 'the newbies,' as they went around, inspecting the room like _they'd_ done since they'd been tossed in this room. So far, they were seeing all the same things previously found, reaching conclusions already reached. Ronnie would grumble over the fact that he didn't have his powers. At least on that they were able to make a new discovery.

"Did they inject you with something?" Wallace asked.

"I don't think so?" Ronnie felt at his neck, his arms, looking for some kind of bump or another, potential injection sites. "They put these dampening cuffs on me when they took me from Main though," he told them, and the same thought sent them all staring around the room, the ceiling…

"There?" Mag pointed to one of the ceiling tiles, and they moved until they could see what she saw, sort of hard to spot but definitely there, like a grid, a different sort of texture to it.

"Dampener," Ronnie agreed, sighing as he looked back down. He squeezed his hand shut and open a few times. At least they hadn't taken his ring from him. He couldn't let himself fall into that sort of thinking like he would never get back to her, like their child would be born and grow without him there, without their father… "So you've tried to get out of here before, yeah?" he asked the others.

"Few times, yeah," Zari told him. "Let's see. First we thought maybe one of the floor tiles was actually a door out of here so Wallace tried to find the one…" He held up his hands, showing his bandages fingertips as his way of telling how that had ended. "Yep. Then we tried to trick them, with Wallace climbing up that wall and pretending to fall and hurt himself, but all that got us was earache with the noise they blasted in here. And then, before you got here, Mag basically smack talked the five of them in here, and we had… some words…"

"Looks that way," Ronnie chuckled, looking at them, the signs of that fight still very much on them.

"Zari broke one of the girls' noses," Wallace added.

"Yeah, I did," she confirmed, some pride in her voice.

"And we got this thing," Mag pulled the small device from her sleeve, discreetly showing it to their newest co-captive. He had his turn at holding it, turning it over in his hands. He had no idea what it was, and with no real distinguishing signs, no buttons, nothing, it looked like slab of light, matted metal.

"Okay…" he frowned, hesitating. "Right, nothing weird or anything, just…" he told them, before pushing the mystery object under himself until he was sitting on it. They stared at him, baffled. "Trying to warm it up," he explained. "Some things react to heat, unless you want to get fire gun guy back in here and ask nicely if he'll let us use his weapon for a second, this is kind of all we've got."

There was little to argue on the explanation, so for the time being the object was left to its warming up, while the conversation carried on. Zari told Ronnie about her hypothesis, about why they were all here, about what was going on out there, about how everything that was happening, even their kidnappings, was one big distraction act to disguise a search and prevent anyone stopping them.

"Your friend Samantha was starting to get the same idea, I think," Ronnie told her, and Zari smiled.

"Yeah, she would," she nodded.

"The problem is we don't know _what_ they could be looking for," Mag added.

"The faster we get out of here, maybe we can figure it out and stop it," Wallace looked around the room.

"Not faster," Ronnie shook his head. "If it's going to work, really work, then we need to put more thought into it, make sure it's as fail proof as we can make it." The way he saw it, they were only going to get so many chances before someone really got hurt, or killed, or they'd all lose what little freedom remained at their disposition. But if they waited, and they really planned it out right… then they could get out of this place and get back to their loved ones.

"I can get behind fail proof," Zari agreed.

"Do you think they can still hear us when we whisper?" Wallace asked. Surely the fact that they were whispering already did a good enough job of pointing out the fact that they were up to something, but so long as no one was coming to stop them doing it…

"I don't know, think we can test that theory?" Ronnie asked.

"If they can hear us, then they _heard_ that, so it won't be much of a test," Mag gave him a look.

"Good point," Ronnie bowed his head, realizing. Their only option then was to continue as they'd been doing things, whispering as they worked to get a plan going, and hoping that they weren't just telling their captors everything that they were going to do in order to get out of this place.

"Maybe they don't bother to listen because they figure we'll never get out of a room like this," Wallace suggested.

"It does have that air of 'we thought of everything' to it, doesn't it?" Zari agreed.

"Of course if we do get out of here, there's no telling what Earth we're on, or…" Ronnie started to say, but Zari told him they were about 99% sure they were on Main, explaining the theory cooked up over the presence of the cookies. Since then, they had been good to look at all the food they'd been receiving, and it still held. Whatever they got, it was only ever something that existed on both Earths or solely on Main. Once he knew this, Ronnie couldn't be anything except relieved. If they were on Main, then he wasn't so far that he couldn't get back to Cait easily enough.

"Hey, what if they're wanted in Haven?" Wallace sat up all of a sudden.

"What? Who?" Mag asked.

"The gun guys," he replied. "Maybe that's why they weren't the ones to take me, even if they're from there, because they didn't want to draw attention to themselves."

"I should have recognized them the second I saw them," Ronnie shook his head, still annoyed at himself for that one. "I mean your friends, they showed Cait and Amaya and I the video of you being taken," he told Zari. "I don't know, all the running around, I was just…"

"Distracted?" Mag guessed, and he could just squeeze his hands in and out, trying to shake out his frustration with himself. "Hey, I get it. I knew there was something fishy about those girls, and I still fell for their trap. We're all exhausted on either side of that breach."

"It's not just that, I… just found out two days ago that Cait and I are having a baby, and it's been…" he made a spinning motion around his head.

"Hey…" Zari patted his arm in a light congratulatory gesture. He nodded along, smiling. Now she understood even more the worry he'd been carrying around, thinking about _her_ thinking about him being gone. "You're going to see her again."

"Right," he agreed quietly, to himself, to her back in the city, too. He looked to Mag for a moment, never really meaning to stare, but it was hard not to look at her and wonder a bit. But he couldn't say whether she was of a mind to share her backstory. Sure, they were stuck in a room with nothing but time on their hands, but still…

"It's okay," she said, and he looked back at her. "I get that a lot, that look."

"Sorry. About looking, I mean." She just shrugged.

"I've had worse."

"Right. Well… how about that plan, huh?"

They might have been discouraged by their previous – failed – attempts, but then in the long run it might have been that what they all learned from those failures would be the things that enabled them to succeed the one time they needed to succeed. Everything they had seen, and felt under their fingers, their feet, everything they had smelled, heard… it was research. Even the sort of… psychedelic display they'd gotten when the meta girls and the gun guys had made their appearance and disappearance, that told them something, too.

"We didn't even have the bathroom at first," Wallace told Mag and Ronnie, who stared at them, blinking, while he and Zari chuckled like old timers. "And then it was there…"

"Which is weird, I mean we both walked around, touching the walls, and I know I touched that corner, and there was no toilet, no wall… But then they can bring us in here without anyone realizing, same with the food, the first aid kits…" Zari added.

"So there's some kind of tech or another in here, on top of the dampeners," Ronnie looked around at the walls again, at the ceiling. "Oh, speaking of which, let's see…" he reached down and pulled out the mystery device to see whether warming it up had done anything yet.

"I'm really trying not to be _that_ person about the fact that it was just under your butt or anything," Zari frowned as the three of them tried to see at the same time as Ronnie did. But it didn't look any different. "Maybe it's not done cooking. Quick, put it back."

"I don't think it's going to change anything," Ronnie shook his head. In his mind, he wondered if it was the opposite and it was the cold that it responded to, and now he thought about Amaya again, thought of her lying on the ground, right before he'd been knocked out and brought here. He knew that she could heal herself, and she probably had by now, but the image was still there in his head and he couldn't shake it. "Here," he handed it back to Mag, and it disappeared back in her sleeve. "Now what?"

"Maybe it's just a really strange sort of paper weight," Mag suggested.

"About the plan," he clarified.

"Oh, right."

Silence fell once again, as they started to think. The panel in the ceiling where the dampener was – if that was in fact the dampener and not just a speaker of some kind – was more or less at the very center of the room, so climbing the bathroom wall wouldn't get much closer to it than just standing underneath it, and he couldn't imagine the four of them forming some kind of human chain would go unnoticed from whoever was watching them out there.

"You can smell the people out there, yeah?" he asked Mag, recalling.

"It's a bit more than that, but yes."

"If there's no one there, you'll know?"

"That only works if they leave us unguarded," Mag pointed out.

"They think there's no way we can get out of here. Overconfident people make mistakes," Zari shrugged.

"If there's no one at any time, I'll let you know," Mag promised.

"Alright, so there's that," Ronnie nodded to himself. The only things they had that they could possibly use as tools or weapons were the food trays and their contents, which now counted four water bottles, the clothes on their backs, and the mystery object that didn't change when he'd warmed it by sitting on it… If they could just disable the dampener though, he'd have his powers again, and he could get them out of here, he just knew it.

It was a problem in need of a solution. It made him think of Cait again, about the early days, when they'd only just met, and it was her researches and her curiosities which had drawn him to her. It was how they had become friends, how they had fallen in love… He wished he could work this problem out with her, too… except no, not really. He didn't wish it enough to ever have her actually in here, in captivity. Better that he figured it out on his own, and with the others, and then he could tell her all about it when he got back to her.

The first hurdle, the biggest, was going to be to break the dampener. Supposing they were ever left alone, supposing they could make the human chain… He looked around at the others. From what he knew of them, he would say he could get Mag on his shoulders, and she could get Wallace on hers, and _he_ could get Zari on his, and then… It might get them close enough to the ceiling, he wasn't sure, but then they needed something to do the breaking. The tray would be their strongest tool, no doubt, but they would have to find a way to break or bend it, or…

He sighed, lying down on the ground for a while, sticking his hands under his head for support as he tried to clear his head. Here he'd been saying how they needed to take their time, to think this out, to make sure they would succeed, and all he could think about was do this, do that, on and on and at such a pace, like he was running out of time and he needed to get there… back to her… He couldn't rush it, they had to get it right the first time…

Eventually he pulled himself back up, sitting, and he shared his first ideas, the human chain, the tray… They were valid enough as ideas, though it didn't change the fact that they had very little in the way of supplies.

"I think I could probably break that thing," Mag declared indicating the dampener grid as discreetly as possible and miming hitting with her fist. "Or maybe I can do something about that tray, what is it, plastic?" she tapped its surface with her nail. "It could be doable," she estimated.

"Okay, then that's two options," Zari spoke with the encouragement in her tone feeling like she could tell the guys were in need of it.

"Only works if they do leave us alone at some point," Wallace reminded her, reaching for his rolled up jacket, settling in for his turn at a nap.

The others stayed mostly quiet as they sat around and let him get to sleep. After a while, Mag sat up, informing them that the girls were back. Then they left and it was only the strange presence on its own. Then it was the guys, back again and gone again. This happened a few times as hours went on.

"What are they doing?" Zari asked, intrigued. They didn't have much else for keeping them entertained, did they?

"Reporting in?" Ronnie guessed.

Beyond the comings and goings of the 'search parties' as they'd gotten to call them, not much else happened. The presence was still there. The only time it wasn't there, the search parties were still back there, which got to the point making them believe they would never be left alone, and their plans would all be for nothing. But then…

"Wait…" Mag sat up. She sat very still, like she was listening to something, or… She got up after a while, looking back at the wall, the one through which they now knew they were being watched. "There's no one anymore."

"Are you sure?" Zari asked, getting up even as Ronnie did.

"Positive," Mag promised.

"Hey, wake up," Zari gave Wallace's shoulder a nudge until he opened his eyes.

"What is it?" he asked, sleep still in his voice.

"We're on our own right now, we need you," Zari told him. He slowly sat up, got to his feet.

"What are we doing?" he asked.

They tried it. The human chain. They weren't going to try anything beyond that, not yet, but at least they could see if they were able to pull it off. They debated briefly whether they needed to just stand as close to the grid as they could while they stacked themselves up, or if they could use the bathroom wall as an aid in getting up one on top of the other's shoulders and then walk over to the grid, but they knew it would have to be the first one, if they didn't want Ronnie to be stuck walking the three of them around.

Mag got on Ronnie's shoulders, then Wally climbed up, and then Zari. They really tried not to find the whole thing a bit funny, but then they were tired, and starved for activity, and it was all sort of a nightmare to climb over each other, especially with Zari having to get all the way up, and more than once they had to stop and make sure they wouldn't all topple down because someone had gotten the giggles.

Once they had succeeded, forming the chain, they discovered they could maybe, possibly do what they were aiming to do, but then there were a few 'ifs' in there. They had unmade their chain and gotten back to sit on the ground, ensured that they were still alone. They _could_ get to the grid, if Zari didn't just sit on Wallace's shoulders but stand on them, but then it would be left to her to bring the grid, and they couldn't be sure she'd pull it off.

Barring that, they would have to try it the other way, with Mag at the top of the chain, but it would mean having her stand on Zari's shoulders, and that felt a lot more perilous than they could manage. But it was something. They had to hold on to that.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	26. DAY 051 (vol 1, ch 26)

_Day 51 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 26_

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

Eliza Danvers looked on from the wide patio at the back of the house, as the girl and her two young brothers ran around and played together. Their mother, considerably weaker than them, sat nearby on a chair, sleeping peacefully. Eliza could see some of the sickness in the children, too, though as it found itself in competition with the exuberance of being somewhere that was so alive, somewhere that didn't require masks for them to breathe in any way properly, the sickness didn't seem to hold near as much power over them. The smiles, the laughter… She only knew little of the place they'd come from, this 'Mist Quarter.' All she knew was what her daughters had told her when they'd brought the family to her door and asked her to look after them for the near future.

Her girls… When she had seen them standing there, dressed as they were, with those sickly people at their heels, it had taken some time, some words, for her to grasp what was happening, and even now she still didn't know that she really understood it. But they were out there now, helping people like this woman and her children, and much as she'd feel as though she needed more explanation than what she'd gotten when time allowed, for now… for now she was only a mother, proud of her daughters and standing by them in what way she could.

She looked to the girl and those little boys, and she would think about everything that had happened, years before. Losing Jeremiah, losing Kara… For so long she had genuinely believed her daughter dead, like her husband. One day they had been a family, and the next everything was in pieces, ruined. If not for that day, Jeremiah's death, Kara's disappearance, what might have they become? Might they have had other children? Might they all have grown together, happily? So much of her relationship with Alexandra after that tragic day had been marred by feelings of grief, of loss, but she could not say that sooner or later they wouldn't have drifted apart from her regardless, her vision of her family perhaps not the same one they had for themselves.

"Help! Help!" the little boys cried all of a sudden, pulling her out of her thoughts, waking their mother. Eliza looked to them now and saw the girl lying there, collapsed in the grass.

"Oh…" Eliza breathed, running down toward them. The mother had followed as hurriedly as she could. Eliza had reached the girl, crouching and kneeling, picking her up… she weighed so little… and carried her back inside, the mother and the boys following along. Laying her down on the couch, they could see she was already coming around. "It's alright, you're alright…" Eliza promised, stepping back to allow the mother to come and sit with her daughter. "Just outdid yourself a little. I'll get you some water," she moved toward the kitchen, returning with a tall glass filled and holding a straw that bobbed in the clear liquid. The four of them looked at the thing like a little miracle.

"Thank you," the mother told Eliza, trembling, as she helped her daughter drink up.

"Of course… I'll get more glasses."

X

The police captain was not having a good day. He'd already been briefed by the outpost director from ARGUS about a situation unfolding with breachers. It wasn't everyone on the force who would be aware of the existence of another Earth, of their living in a 'quarter' of what they called the Breach Earth, but after getting the promotion to captain he had been briefed so that, if a situation such as this ever came along, he could then be rapidly brought up to date. He'd once felt some sort of pride at being entrusted with something like that. Today… today he would have much preferred being allowed a blissful ignorance.

"Where the hell is everyone?" he muttered to himself, walking through the bullpen. He was already short one CSI, though as she was their liaison to ARGUS he could hardly complain. But now two of his detectives were out, too, when to his knowledge they should have been here, waiting for him to tell them what he needed from them. They happened to be about the only ones of his detectives who were actually in the know about these Earths and Quarters things. "Has anyone seen Garrick or Darhk?" he called out.

X

"Right," Damien told his partner. "You go left, I go right," he signalled as they kept crouched out of sight.

"I don't know, they're pretty fast," Jay pointed out, wishing his legs wouldn't cramp.

"Then be fast. Ready?"

"Yeah. On your count."

"Three… two… one… go!"

They sprang from behind the wall and made for the squealing toddlers, scooping them both up with a roaring sort of laugh.

"Not bad, huh, little man?" Jay asked of three-year-old John Michaels twisting happily in his arms, his twin sister Sara doing much the same in Damien's arms. In time the children were set back on their feet and they ran off, no doubt waiting to be 'caught' again. "Let's just give them a head start," Jay decided, taking a breath. He could chase criminals any day, but toddlers, now that was a completely different discipline.

They had promised Lyla they would look in on her son and daughter, as her work back on Main looked to be stretching on into overtime. It was hardly ever an issue for her that she was alone raising the pair of them. She had a solid nanny who more than understood the demands of her job. But anyone could see, with just a little information to go on, that this was something else entirely. Knowing that her children were looked after while she couldn't be with them, that would go a long way.

They'd met the twins' father, very recently now, and it was hard not to wonder about him, about Lyla, how they'd gotten to this point. They were aware of who John Diggle was, separate from their colleague, and much as they knew he hadn't always been the person he had become, they couldn't say that they disagreed with Lyla's choice to keep the children a secret from him.

"We should head back," Damien looked to his watch. Lyla may have trusted them with her secrets, but the captain would not be so lenient if they were off running private errands while they were on the clock.

X

"Where are you?" the captain asked, when he picked up his phone to find Detective Garrick on the other end of the line. Jay Garrick had been with them for a few years now. The captain was one of the few at this station – along with Jay's partner – who knew the man had come to them from War Quarter. Though he claimed to have a good handle on those old 'demons' now, it was hard not to wonder if he would ever be brought to distraction because of them, and now… "Well, get back here now, before I…"

He paused, catching sight of something outside his office window. Back in the bullpen… they were all dropping, one by one. The detectives, the officers, suspects being brought through, visitors… They were falling to the ground, falling slumped over desks…

"What…" the captain barely managed to say, his hand moving instinctively to the alert key in his pocket, given to him along with the promotion and the briefing, which would send off an alarm to ARGUS. He'd just pressed the button when he, too, crumpled to the ground, the phone dangling from its cord down the side of his desk, the distant voice of Jay Garrick calling for him to respond. But the captain was already dead on the ground.

X

 **ARGUS OUTPOST, HAVEN QUARTER**

"No, listen to me, you need to cordon off the building. No one goes inside, no one even approaches it. I'm on my way. _Don't let anyone near the precinct._ "

The outpost director sat heavily in his chair, taking a breath before turning to his computer and patching in a call to the Waverider. Outside his office he could see and hear his agents in the process of mobilizing. A few seconds later, Agent Winn Schott appeared on the computer screen.

"Yes, Sir, how can I help you?" the agent asked. The director didn't reply for a moment, evidently shaken. "Sir?"

"I'm afraid I have some news, we… It appears the people your team is looking for have expanded their target zone," he finally spoke. The agent on the screen looked immediately startled.

"Say what?"

"There was an attack, on the police precinct. By some… by some chance the captain was able to send out the alarm. We quickly established it matched the reports put out by our counterparts in War. The building is being cordoned off, but we know very little of what we're dealing with, whereas your team…"

"No, I understand, we… we're on our way."

X

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**

Everyone had only just returned from wherever they'd ended up, across the city, to the ship, to take a moment, collect themselves before looking to what their next step might be. Some were down in the galley, others were on the bridge, in the library… Winn had been on the bridge when the call had come in, though none of the others there with him had heard a thing. Now he thought about having to deliver this news on to them, and it felt like his guts alone had turned to steel just now and presently sat heavily in him. He'd been relegated to the ship for the most part, due to circumstances, but now maybe it would be time he stepped into the field.

"Agent Schott?" Catherine asked, seeing him come along looking so gloomy. "Another?" she had to ask. He didn't know what to say.

"Could you…" he motioned overhead, and she thankfully understood. She moved to the controls before putting out a ship wide call, summoning everyone to the bridge.

"What's the matter?" Mike asked, Jax at his side, along with Detective Raatko and Agents Ramirez and Spivot. Winn didn't reply, waiting for the others to come along first. He waited, counted them as they came along, the tense air hanging over them as they waited in silence. When the last of them had packed on to the bridge, he let out a breath, facing them and getting on with the news. It wouldn't be easy, whichever way he said it.

"I just got word, there was another attack, another Mist grenade," he told them, and they frowned, confused. This didn't add up, they could tell. "The call came from the outpost director… in Haven."

Silence pressed on them once again as they took this in, took in what it would mean. Another attack in War would have been one thing, terrible, yes, but this… this was an attack on a whole other quarter, and… What if there were other Haven attacks? What if there were attacks in more quarters, or on Main? Here they'd been, doing all they could to contain this, to track down whoever was behind these attacks, but had they been making that much progress, when they had been able to do this?

"Where?" Alexandra Danvers stepped up. She was of Haven, as was her sister.

"The police precinct," Winn revealed. If the attacks here had been about creating division, chaos, what would the precinct hit do for the people of Haven? Rob them of a feeling of security, no doubt, but then what? "The director in Haven has requested our assistance," Winn told Ralph, who stepped up to join him now.

"We can't just leave here though…" Evelyn pointed out, and they looked at her. She was right, of course she was right. Whatever had been happening here in War, they had no way of knowing what would come next, from the attackers or from the people themselves, those aligned to the enemy, or to the resistance.

"Half of us will stay behind, the other half will continue on to Haven. Agreed?" Ralph asked his gathered crew. They didn't have much of another choice. "Right. Who's staying?"

Hands went up. Evelyn and Carter would stay, defending their city as best they could, like the Tradespeople they were. M'gann would stay, knowing Ralph would have to go to Haven and they would need someone in charge. J'onn would stay, assisting her and the others in what ways he could. Slade would stay, too, backing up his teammate. Patty and Rene would stay, and Nyssa, and Rory, too. Harrison would return to assist Stein and Laura Zeta at the labs; they'd need their work maybe now more than ever. Meanwhile, this left Ralph, the Hawks, the Danvers sisters, the two halves of Firestorm, Seeker, Mike, Jax, Roy, and Winn and Cat aboard the Waverider bound for Haven.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**

As the ship sailed through into Haven, the thirteen onboard could only look out at the sky and the city below. Looking over that blue sky, that vibrant looking city, there was no sign of anything having gone wrong. But then there really wasn't any sign flying over War either. Any destruction, any disturbance there, that had just been what War was, every day. The Mist attacks themselves didn't leave fire, or smoke, nothing of the sort. The only thing it left behind was dead bodies.

The ship would set down as close as it could get to the precinct without getting too close. There was no telling whether it was safe to fly over the perimeter. They should be, but for all they'd seen, the last thing they needed was a plummeting ship. Once all but Winn and Catherine had disembarked, the ship would be flown back to the outpost.

As the eleven of them walked toward the precinct, the Danvers sisters were at the forefront. Save for Harrison Wells – who'd remained in War – they were the only ones of the group from Haven, and however few or many memories they had of the city, to be here and to know that this mess they'd been dealing with in War had now moved here, to their home… It didn't sit easily with them. For Kara in particular, it felt like she could have screamed at her most powerful of levels. Already her home of years had been put through hell over these past few days, and now… now the place which had been her first home, the place she'd come to call home again was being put through it, too. If she didn't have her sister by her side just now, she didn't know that she could have kept herself together as much as she did.

There was a crowd gathered outside the barriers hastily raised around the building, as much as ARGUS agents and officers who had thankfully been out of the building when the attack had occurred now tried to tell them to move away, to return home. They didn't understand what was happening, and how could they when no one would tell them anything. The building didn't look in any way damaged, so why couldn't anyone go inside? But then they could see, on the steps outside, and near the doors… there were people on the ground, not so many, but enough to be alarming.

"Why aren't you helping them?" a man asked. "They could be hurt." The crowd was not so rowdy yet, but it was easy to see how quickly it could all degenerate.

A cry, not so unlike the Call to Shelter from War to those who'd heard it, loudly drew the crowd's attention, making them turn to find the small group who'd come along. When Kara let the cry die out, she turned to Ralph tipping her head for him to get talking.

"Thanks," he frowned before looking to the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, you'll have to move away from the building. There has been an incident, a toxic compound was released inside, and if you stand too close you may be affected. I know you're concerned, and you will be further informed in due time, but for now the best thing you can do is to go home."

There was some hesitation. A few of the people started to walk off as told, looking at the building for a moment before moving off. Others were slower to start, looking to the bodies on the ground, inside the barriers… They weren't hurt, were they? No, they were just dead… The rest of the crowd moved away in time. Now that they knew this much, they weren't going to let themselves be affected.

"Easier than in War," Jax breathed out, recalling the people he'd failed to hold back from running toward the WQI.

"For how long though?" Mike looked around as the group moved toward the agents guarding the barrier.

"Director," Ralph held out his hand to shake the man's. "My people have masks that should allow us to enter the building. First we just need to make sure there haven't been any modifications made to the formula." As he was explaining this, Seeker was tossing the small probe Catherine Grant had provided them before they left the ship. The woman's voice was in their ears now as she would observe the data from back on the Waverider. After a minute, she confirmed that it was the same as in War. "The masks will work," Ralph told the director.

"Good, then hand us a pair," a man spoke, and they turned to find two men walking toward them. "Detective Garrick," he introduced himself. "This is my partner, Detective Darhk. I was on the line with the captain when he died. Those are our people in there. We're going with you."

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	27. DAY 053 (vol 1, ch 27)

_Day 53 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 27_

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **POLICE PRECINCT**

Did it feel more terrible to walk into this place because they were in Haven instead of War? If they were honest with themselves, yes, it was. Maybe terrible wasn't the right word; walking along and finding the bodies of all those victims who'd had absolutely no chance to save themselves was always going to weigh heavily on their souls. Anyone who grew up in War just had to grow with this state of… bracing. Any day could bring a new attack, near to or far from them. Any day could bring death, to a stranger, to a loved one, in any number of horrible ways.

In Haven… There were no procedures, no Calls to Shelter. If by some misfortune this had happened in any place without a connection to ARGUS, in any place where news of what had been going down in War hadn't been readily known… People would have rushed in and suffered the same fate, no one there to stop them until it was too late. That notion was not lost on the Waverider team, in and out of the precinct, and by now it was easy for them to understand, maybe, more than maybe, that had been the intention. This was a message. This was another distraction. And what else could they do but to respond to it?

The shielding masks were getting to be all too familiar to them now, though fitting them to the two detectives who were to accompany them inside had been the thing to make them realize that fact more than anything. They'd stood there as Barry and Eobard helped Detectives Garrick and Darhk respectively with the installation of the masks and the activation of the shields, telling them all they'd need to know about how they worked. Then, finally, the four of them, along with Ralph, Kara, Alexandra, and Seeker, had been allowed through the barrier, approaching cautiously.

Though there was no way for them to have survived, the bodies they'd crossed before even making it through the door had been checked. They were all dead. They had been carried down to where they could be looked after, and then the group had walked into the precinct.

It was a ghost town. They could hear sounds – a television up in a corner, a printer beeping to alert the need for more paper, a refrigerator door left open and the motor thrumming – all that remained when the noise of human life was snuffed out. Then there were the bodies. The detectives would stop, time and again, finding people they had known for months, for years, and checking in the event that they might have been alive after all. The others knew there'd be no chance of it, but they didn't have the heart to take their hope away. There was no scenario in which this would be made any easier to bear.

"I just talked to her this morning…" Garrick would say, leaning by a woman collapsed against her computer keyboard.

"He was getting married…" Darhk would say, crouched by a man who'd fallen flat to the ground, a cup of coffee crashed and spilled by his hand.

"If the grenade was delivered like those in War, we'll find it in the vents, near the top of the building," Ralph told them. "ARGUS is looking into surveillance, trying to find where it might have been fired from, but if it's like in War, too, then there won't be anything there for us to find," he explained, his voice saying plainly how sorry he was for the two men, for any of them who called Haven home. He wasn't from here, but then he had just come from seeing _his_ home put through the same thing.

"What else can you tell us?" Darhk asked, barely contained sadness and anger in him.

"There were three attacks, counting the test site," Kara told them. "A school, a hospital, and the prison… Communal hubs for our city," she explained.

"We were able to save a lot of those in the prison, neutralized the weapon," Alexandra added.

"Because we figured out where they'd hit next," Kara nodded, the problem now evident. They had no idea what the attackers had planned for Haven. They couldn't predict where they might hit next. They could have all the neutralizer that they wanted, and it wouldn't do them any good. That was what they were being shown now, seeing all the victims of the precinct hit.

X

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

 **ARGUS HEADQUARTERS**

Iris could hardly move, looking at the screen, the words. _Haven…_ It wasn't a name any of them would know, not unless they were aware of the existence of the quarters of Breach Earth and the designations they'd been given by ARGUS. The city was all their cities, but then _her_ city and _this_ city were not the same. Hers was Haven, and it had just been hit. She may not have known the people there, in the precinct, but somehow their having been of her city was enough to make her feel their loss somewhere in her heart.

And what if they were attacked again?

She'd gone to Main, to help with the influx of breachers, and she'd been doing that for the past few days, but now it felt as though her allegiance was being tested. Shouldn't she be out there, in Haven, in her home, helping them somehow? Except to go there would mean to abandon the post she'd held, abandoning some people for the sake of others, when they could be in just as much peril. There was no way for her to make that choice.

She looked around, the room just as active as it had been from the moment she'd come through the breach with the Queens. The Queens… and Tommy… and Lyla… They were from Haven, too, they needed to be told.

The easier one would be Robert and Moira Queen, presently sheltered at their children's home, until such a time as their knowledge might be required. She called, and Moira picked up the phone. When Iris told her about the hit on the precinct, she asked after a Detective Darhk, a friend of theirs. Iris reassured her that he had not been on the premises at the time, that he was safe. Moira and her husband would come down to headquarters, exploring the possibility of returning to Haven.

X

The four of them had been brought together in about as close to a team as they could be by little more than circumstance:

Dinah Drake, the ARGUS agent who'd found herself bonded to…

Felicity Smoak, the alien called Supergirl in search of a fugitive and put into contact with…

Tommy Merlyn, the Haven based son of that fugitive and brought on to the Main Earth situation by…

Lyla Michaels, the CSI and liaison to ARGUS now just as pulled into this search as the rest of them were.

After their failed search in Haven, they had returned to Main, finding the best they could do until they knew what step they might take next was to lend a hand around the city still afflicted by the arrival of more breachers. There just wasn't any moment of respite for a while. One crisis handled would lead near immediately to another, and another… Before long the only way to get any food in them was to eat in transit, from one place to the next. Injuries, if they came and were not severe enough to prevent their going on, were patched up as hastily as they could.

Tommy was testing out his wrist as he followed Agent Drake and Lyla on the ground, while Supergirl flew overhead, looking around, listening. His hand had very recently had an unfortunate encounter with a particularly hard-headed man out of… he honestly didn't know what quarter anymore.

"You alright?" Agent Drake asked him, nodding to his wrist.

"Old injury," he shrugged. "It flares up from time to time and…" He paused as Iris' voice came into his ear.

"Tommy, where are you?" she asked.

"Uh…" he looked around. "If we were in Haven, about three blocks North of your place. Why?"

"Is Lyla with you?" Iris asked, and he didn't dare letting his face change, waiting to know why Iris needed to know.

"Yes," he said.

"When you repeat what I'm about to tell you, just confirm to her that her children are safe, according to those detectives you met out there."

"What happened?" Tommy blinked.

"You know those attacks in War Quarter? Well they just hit Haven. They hit the police precinct." His posture, which the two women standing in front of him – three, when Supergirl came to land, noticing how they'd stopped – had been scrutinizing, must have been as blindsided as he felt.

"Guardian?" Lyla asked. He pulled the helmet from his head, running his hand across his face for a moment. There was that concern there on the woman's features, and he was relieved he could at least put her mind at ease on one front, even though she would be hit the hardest; she was bound to know a lot of those people…

"There's been an attack, in Haven," he told the trio. "Iris wanted me to let you know, Garrick and Darhk are safe, as are JJ and Sara," he promised Lyla, and she took a breath at that. "But they hit the precinct." The breath was knocked out of her all over again.

"Tommy, is she alright?" Iris asked in his ear.

"What do you think? We're headed back to headquarters," he replied, looking to Agent Drake and Supergirl, asking without asking.

"We'll go with you," Supergirl nodded. They could have stayed here, kept helping where they could, but they couldn't see themselves abandoning half their team in a moment of crisis.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**

 **HOME OF ELIZA DANVERS**

Soon after the incident in the yard, Eliza Danvers had found an easy way to give the Mist children something to thrill them about as much as running around had done, without the risk of their wearing themselves out while their little bodies did what they could to recover some strength. They had never seen a movie. The moment they'd seen the images start on the large screen, the boys sitting protectively on either side of their big sister on the couch, they'd been mystified.

Hearing the sound of the door opening and closing out beyond the den, Eliza had gotten up and gone in the direction of the sound until she came face to face with her daughters and their friend once again. There was a weariness in their features, like whatever had been going on since they'd dropped off the children and their mother had been draining and difficult.

"What's happened now?" she asked, keeping her voice low so not to alarm the family in the den.

The three of them had considered what they would say, considered… what the intent would be for this visit. Seeker had to think about that family she'd brought from Mist, believing she had left them somewhere safe, and whether they were still safe in Haven. And Kara and Alexandra had their mother… Could they leave her here and not worry constantly for her safety? Should they take her away from here?

Where would they take her, where would they take all of them? They couldn't take them to Main, not with all the breachers running around. Consulting Seeker on any other quarters where they might have hidden them away, if only for the time it would take them to put a stop to all this, she had one quarter in mind, though they would need to go through ARGUS, because she had only been there once before and she genuinely could not find her way back there. It would also depend on what Eliza and the others decided to do.

The children's mother had stepped out from the den at the sound of their voices, and now she stood looking at them, wondering same as Eliza about what was going on.

"The weapon made of the water from Mist, there were some attacks in War Quarter, but now there's been an attack here, in Haven," Alexandra told the both of them. The Mist woman's hand moved to cover her mouth, as Eliza gasped.

"Where?" she asked.

"The police precinct," Kara revealed, the weight of its significance sinking at once on her mother's face. "There's no telling whether there will be more, or where they will be if there are more. You're safe here for now," she promised, taking her hands. "But if you want, we can take you somewhere else."

"Somewhere else, you mean a different… another quarter," Eliza established, and they nodded. She turned back to the woman, who was looking back toward the den, to her children. "What about you? Where will you be?" They didn't respond, though she knew. "You'll be here."

"Mom…" Alexandra begged.

"Get them to that other place, if that's what they choose. But I'm staying here. If you're staying, I'm staying," she insisted, reaching one hand each to her daughters' cheeks. Alexandra tried not to look concerned, her hand going over her mother's hand. Kara closed her eyes leaning into that touch, wishing… wishing she could remember those years she'd lost, truly, now more than she'd ever done since her return to Haven.

"Here," she pulled the mask from around her neck, placed it around her mother's neck. "Stay vigilant. If you see… if you see people falling, you need to put it on. I'll show you how to turn it on, okay?" She may not have remembered her childhood with this woman, with her entire family, but she only had to look into her eyes to know how loved she'd been. That girl would have wanted nothing more than to keep her mother safe, and so she would.

X

 **OUTSIDE THE PRECINCT**

"Jay, Damien!" Lyla had broken away from the rest of them, jogging toward her colleagues as they'd approached the building. The two men had turned, greeting her with the relief of their shared shock. They'd been watching the ongoing removal of the bodies from the precinct. As much as they'd tried to be a part of that process, it had been too close, too difficult, and they'd finally agreed to step back and let the rest of them handle it. Now Lyla was seeing it all, and it was a nightmare.

"We were at your house, looking in on the twins when it happened," Damien revealed, and she instinctively had to take a breath, reminded of her children's safety. But the two of them… If they hadn't been out there, they could have been here, in there. She could have been in there, too, if she hadn't been on Main, if she hadn't been a part of all they'd been doing back there.

"Hello again," Jay had moved to greet the rest of their team, shaking Tommy's hand, and Dinah's, and Felicity's. "Thank you for coming," he went on, before his eyes went to the group at their heels. Noticing the question in the man's face, Tommy had turned to the twenty men and women before looking back to Jay.

"They heard about what happened. They're with the police department back on Main and… they wanted to come lend a hand to fellow officers." Now the detective looked to the men and women under a new light, new respect and an instant kinship. They nodded back to him, as he extended his hand again and shook their hands and they introduced themselves. At the forefront stood those who, according to Tommy, had kicked off the initiative.

"Leslie Willis," the woman introduced herself. "This is my partner," she indicated the man at her side.

"Adrian Chase," he tipped his head, shaking Jay's hand. "Where do you need us?" Jay looked at him, at all of them, looked back to the building behind him. The captain was dead, as were most of the others below him, and of those who remained… he supposed he _was_ the one with seniority, and he couldn't say whether this earned him any right to the position, but at this time they just needed someone to call the shots, didn't they?

"I don't know how informed all of you were about the existence of this other Earth before today, but you're here now and that's all that counts. I want to thank you for the support you've volunteered to provide. The people of this city will be finding out about what happened here today. They will possibly have to deal with further attacks of this kind. For the time being, there's no telling where, or when. That's what we're going to have to find out. We have the support of ARGUS as well, and we have the team from the Waverider, who have already been dealing with this situation over in War Quarter. We need to work together, to protect this city and its people, and to ensure that the people who died in there," he pointed back to the precinct, "get the justice they deserve. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," the officers of Main replied as one.

Watching them, Tommy took a breath. He'd been doing plenty to help his city, as Guardian, but now he got to wondering if maybe he might find another way to help. Except… His father's shadow continued to hang overhead, and with it came not just association by name and blood but also… everything else he'd done, the people who answered to him… It reminded him why he _had_ become Guardian, why he wore his helmet. But maybe… if they brought him down… maybe he could walk out of that shadow and become something more.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	28. DAY 055 (vol 1, ch 28)

_Day 55 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 28_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **STEIN LABS**

Most of them who'd stayed behind were out there now, moving through the city and keeping their eyes open for any situations arising and needing to be dealt with. New attacks, new information on old attacks… and the two sides potentially hitting one another, as they suspected had been these attackers' intent. The whole city was getting to feel like a powder keg, the slightest spark and…

Then there was the rest of them, still down in Stein Labs. The neutralizer had been one thing, and it had saved a lot of lives, but it wasn't going to be enough in the end, they knew.

Evelyn and Carter were there with them now, with Doctor Stein, and Harrison Wells, and Laura Zeta, and Rene Ramirez. They had stayed to help their city, and as far as they were concerned, these people had been responsible for all those lives saved at the prison even more than they'd been in dispersing the neutralizer. They deeply believed that if something was going to happen, something to help War, it would start out of this place. So they did what they could to help.

"So you're a tech guy, huh?" Evelyn asked, watching Agent Ramirez as he paced about, staring at a tablet with a concentrated look on his face.

"Right," he told her distractedly. "More or less."

"Can't you make something so we could follow back where they prepared this weapon? Their base ops?" He looked up at her. She shrugged.

"Already looked. We haven't found any trace except where they hit." Evelyn looked to Carter, wondering if maybe… "Where are you going?" Rene called after the pair of them as they moved to head out.

"Maybe nowhere," Evelyn called back as she and Carter made to head out of Stein Labs.

Not five minutes later, they received word through ARGUS that enemy aligned forces were on the move, headed toward the resistance army base. At once, Laura had gotten in touch with M'gann and Slade, the only two of the Waverider's main crew still in War and presently leading the others through the city. They had already gotten the same warning, and they were making for the base. All they could hope for at this time, uncertain as it was that they'd reach the base in time, was that Ralph's words to the general would have made some effect, enough of it that they wouldn't play right into the attackers' hand.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**

 **ARGUS OUTPOST**

Between the Waverider team, the ARGUS agents, and the cops – both of the city and of the relief out of Main led by Chase and Willis, the effort had been an ongoing one. The precinct had been cleared of its dead now, the bodies sent on to where they could be seen to, as families were advised. The news had broken out over the city, leaving its citizens in a state of panic and confusion. They wanted answers as to what had been the cause, and they wanted assurances that it wouldn't happen again. They had not told them of War, the attacks there. The last thing they needed was mass hysteria. But they also couldn't pretend as though there was no chance that this would happen again.

The shell had been found, as they had known to look for it now. They didn't know what they'd been hoping to find, but to find this object, identical to the ones they'd seen back in War, here in Haven now, was one more instance of their being left shaken, a voice at the back of their mind pleading… not here… not here, too.

"Have you heard from Lyla?" Supergirl had asked Guardian, landing to fall in step with him.

"She's with her kids, packing them up. She's taking them and the nanny down to the outpost. Not sure if she's decided yet if she's going to take them to another quarter or not, but that's probably the safest place for them right now."

"Right," she let out a breath, looking around. Tommy hesitated for a moment, the question having played at his mind about as long as he'd known about what she and her teammates had been here to do.

"Did you ever meet him? My father… before… out there," he gestured toward the sky, the stars beyond. She hesitated, too; she'd expected some questions like this, sooner or later.

"Not face to face, no," she shook her head. "But I'd heard of him. In my line of work, it was nearly impossible not to know about him, before he made a run for it. And once he did, the only question left was who would get called on to bring him back. I was called, my team… We were going to bring him back, put an end to his activities." She paused. And then they'd been caught up in that stasis, all those years, and he'd gone on to Earth. He'd gotten away. And now… now…

"Have you ever been to his… to _our_ world?" he asked. Even after all these years, sometimes he still had to pause and remind himself he wasn't quite human.

"I have," Supergirl gave him an understanding smile. "Maybe one day you will, too. When we get him back, you could come with us, you could see it for yourself." He considered this. "You don't have to decide now," she told him, maybe sensing his indecision.

"Thanks," he told her.

Soon after, Ralph had called them all back. They were to return to the Waverider, to sail back to War and rejoin the others. Once they'd caught one another up on the situations in both quarters, they would need to figure out what to do next.

X

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**

It had not been very long that they'd split up, half of them heading into Haven, but as the ship had landed back in War and those they'd left behind had come on to the bridge to join them, it felt like much more time had gone by, and now they were back, reunited, and they were glad. And there were newcomers to their gathering, too. A few introductions were made, as Tommy Merlyn, Felicity Smoak, Dinah Drake, and Detectives Garrick and Darhk now stood among them.

"Tommy Merlyn, meet Roy Harper and Rory Regan," Felicity had introduced the man to her crew, who'd been surprised to see her back here, even more so when they'd learned who this man was. The son of their target, the fugitive… "He's been helping me track down his father," Felicity told them.

"I want him to be brought to justice as much as you do," Tommy told the pair of them, and in time they looked to be accepting it.

"Where are Evelyn and Carter?" Kara was asking, as a look around the bridge showed that her friends were absent.

"They went off somewhere a while ago," Agent Ramirez had informed her. "Sounded like they thought of something."

Upon their return and their reunion with their teammates, Ralph, the Hawks, Winn and Catherine had learned from M'gann and Slade about the enemy aligned forces approaching the resistance army base. Ralph had asked at once about the status, and for once M'gann was able to give him good news.

As of yet there had been no fighting, no shots fired. As far as they'd been able to see, there actually seemed to be a conversation happening. They could hope that this would mean something good for their city in the long run, but they couldn't turn their backs all the same. Attempts had happened over the years, of course they had. Peace was something at the back of everyone's mind, but then so were a lot of things, and like the rest of those it was little more than a fancy, not something they ever saw happening, so if talks ever happened, they never led anywhere, never actually seemed to be intended to go anywhere.

Even now, there was no telling whether the potential for a cease in hostilities was anywhere on the table. But what would have to be on that table would be the fact that someone had been trying to stir them up and force them into confrontation. If the General and her soldiers could only prove it to their opposition, they might have a chance to – begrudgingly – join forces for the span of what time it would take to put an end to it all.

The development in War had been shared with the collected numbers on the bridge, with those who'd been back in Haven for the most part, only the fact that the conversation was still in progress being something that those in War had not been aware of. Ralph had sworn to the General that he and his crew would not intervene, not unless they were called to do so. This was their fight, and it needed to be their fight alone, for as long as possible. Things could well end up degenerating, as they had done so often before, but they had to try it anyway.

The situation in Haven had also been relayed to those who'd stayed behind. As in War there had been no footage of those who'd set off the grenade, though they had found the launch site. They were also told about the arrival of the cops from Main, lending support. The Danvers sisters were asked about their mother, and they both confirmed that she was alright, and that she had chosen to remain in her home for the time being. Seeker had gotten the Mist family down to the outpost, where she had seen to their – temporary – relocation down to a place designated Underground Quarter.

If they'd been to cross to that quarter, they would have found a desolate shell of a city, and they would have found not one living soul. But they would have come upon one structure, standing apart from the rest in that it looked newer. This was the outpost, or at least a part of it: it led to the true city. It had been built, long ago, when troubles had come along, promising the eradication of every life if they didn't find a solution. So they'd found one: they'd built a new city, under the ground. The top side of the outpost was the only way into the city.

However they may have been perceived in certain quarters, in Underground ARGUS were friends. They had helped to fortify the new city, helped it grow and thrive. And when the Mist family had been brought to them, they had welcomed the woman and her children at once. They would be safe there.

"The attack in Haven has left us with the need to consider the possibility other quarters may also be at risk," Ralph addressed the bridge. "So long as it was contained to War, it was one thing, but now it might be that this had been only the beginning. We can't be everywhere, in each of the many quarters. Now, if a new attack happens, in a third quarter, or a fourth, we will do what we can to help them as well, but for the time being the best thing we can do is ensure they have some way of protecting themselves."

"We have the specs for the adjusted masks," Winn carried on. "And we have the formula for the neutralizer and the weapon itself. We have contacts in each quarter, people who will be able to get the process going, to begin equipping their city with these tools. The hope is, at the same time, that some of them will have ideas to share, something we might not have thought about. Strength in numbers, you know?" he breathed out.

"Seeker, Jax, would you be willing to be our distribution team?" Ralph turned to the two. They both accepted with a silent nod. "Good. Then that leaves the rest of us. If you choose to stay in War, you will need to stay at the outpost or at Stein Labs, away from the base unless the General calls you in, understood?" he asked the others. Kara looked to Agent Ramirez even as he looked to her, both thinking about Evelyn and Carter out in the city, not knowing about what was possibly going down at the base. "The best we can do for the city now is to prevent any further attacks. Now in Haven…"

"There's no telling where they'll attack next," Detective Garrick spoke up. He'd been stood at the window looking down on War. This had been his home, once upon a time. Hearing everything that had been happening here, the attacks on the WQI, the prison, the school… Now that he was back here, it all seemed to affect him even more.

"No, but then that's where we come in. We don't have a lot to go on, all things considered, but whatever we have, it's yours," Ralph vowed, looking to the two detectives, who welcomed this declaration with appreciative nods. "Right…" he started again, then paused, finally noticing the absences. After what had happened with Mag, he'd been trying to keep as aware as possible of his team's comings and goings, not wanting any of them to get left behind or potentially taken. He looked across the faces, found Kara's. These were her friends after all. She looked back at him, understanding his intent, but she shrugged. She had no idea where they'd gone.

X

Enough time had gone by that the air had started to clear around the school, although not so much that the masks would have been unnecessary, so once again she had the mask over her face, the low sort of hum of the shield felt from head to toe, like it hugged every part of her. It was a strange feeling, the kind you told yourself you got used to after a while but that, the second you remembered that it was there, that you could feel it, then it was all you could think of. She'd been thinking about it since they'd crossed into the perimeter of the school.

She'd been trying to do what little she could, with the power granted to her by the red jewel around her throat, as she and Carter moved through the area. The bodies had been removed by now, and still the eerie feeling was there. There were no attacks here, not ever. It was off limits, and the fact that it was, that was the kind of thing that continued to give them hope from day to day. Like the WQI, like all the infirmaries, the schools were some of the most pristine looking buildings in War, for the very reason that they were off limits.

And now… even though the hit had not been one that brought destruction, it still left its mark. Evelyn had attended a school just like this one. Some of her best memories, if they hadn't happened at the Trades, had happened when she'd been in school. She really wanted to get her hands on whoever had been behind this.

As they'd been making their way over from Stein Labs, she'd told Carter about the thought she'd had. The test site, the school… There hadn't been children there at the time of the test, only adults. And there had been no trace of the Mist water, the weapon, anywhere in the city before this place. Maybe it was that they hadn't made it here, in War, but then where would they have made it? So what if they'd made it at the school? What if those people who'd died there had been the ones recruited to take the water and turn it to what they'd made, the weapon?

In the discoveries they'd been making, the efforts to put a stop to it all, no one had said anything about searching the school in any proper way. They'd come, they'd found the bodies, collected samples, but then what?

Evelyn led Carter along, into the school, and they searched, every room, every floor. It wasn't a big school, none of them were, barely a hundred students to every one. But it would have been the perfect place, especially if there were no classes in session. In their search through the building, they came to figure out a thing or two, like the fact that the school had been shut down, in the past two weeks, following the death of two teachers and a few students.

"I was right," Evelyn declared, no amount of satisfaction in her voice for the fact, as they came upon one room and discovered what could only have been the remnants of the manufacturing of several grenades. Carter picked up what appeared to be an empty and unbroken shell, and he showed it to her.

"We'll bring it back to the labs," she nodded, looking around. "Anything else?" she wondered.

They gathered up what they saw as potentially important, very careful not to damage a thing as they placed it all in Evelyn's bag. When there was nothing left for them to do, after checking the rest of the building – just in case – they had made their way back out of the school, sneaking out of the perimeter and starting for Stein Labs.

"The Waverider's back," Carter barely had time to say, as they both saw the ship in the distance, before they realized it was not flying in but flying out, and soon it had disappeared again, through the breach. Whether they were headed to Haven again or to some other quarter, they couldn't say. Evelyn looked down to her bag, bulging with their findings. She wished they could have had a chance to show them before they'd gone again. "We'll show the others for now," Carter told her, sensing her disappointment.

"Right, let's go," Evelyn nodded, and they marched on, unaware of eyes watching them as they went, of footsteps trailing behind them.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	29. DAY 057 (vol 1, ch 29)

_Day 57 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 29_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

Evelyn remembered when she and Carter had only recently met. She was still a kid, sort of, and he would go out of his way to ensure that she wasn't scared by his coat of rags. Over the years she had seen plenty of people blanching and losing their cool when he'd go at them with that thing on, but she had never been one of those. Ragman had been the one to get her out of that prison, to give her freedom and introduce her to the Trades and to the life she had been denied since her birth. That coat gave her reassurance, and the last few days, with everything that had been happening in their city, she needed that reassurance.

The bag slung over her shoulder was heavier than she'd thought it would be when they had left from the school. It slowed her some, swaying against her leg as they went, keeping their eyes open for whatever might have been happening around them. With the attacks and the inevitable aftermath they were all waiting on, it could be a dangerous day to be out in the open.

Hearing a cry of distress suddenly, the response was instantaneous. Pulling the bag from her shoulder, she pushed it under a pile of debris nearby, hiding it as neatly and rapidly as she could, and then she was off running.

She didn't have to look back to know Carter would be running alongside her, toward the origin of the cry, or… Had they missed it? She was sure it had to come from here, but there was no one… She frowned, looking around, and her confusion grew. Not only could she not find the person who'd cried for help, but now she couldn't see Carter anymore.

"Ragman?" she called, her hand hovering near the jewel at her throat, feeling something wasn't right, just not… "Carter?" she tried again, moving back toward where they'd been coming from.

It was purely by chance that she looked to the ground, or maybe something in her periphery drew her attention. But then she did look down, and she stopped. There was a puddle on the ground, and in the surface of the water she did not see her own reflection but instead Ragman, staring back at her, like he was trying to emerge from the water but could not…

"Carter?" her voice felt weak, but then all at once she was shocked, a strong current running through her and keeping her stuck to where she stood, though her hand still tried to reach up to the necklace, the stone…

She couldn't say whether she'd reached it in the end. The next thing she did know, she was being shaken awake by a cluster of children staring down at her. According to them, they'd found her there, unconscious, after seeing 'those other girls' disappear through a hole in the air, carrying an unconscious man between them.

"They left this," one boy said, handing her what might have looked like trash to anyone, but to her it had looked like hope, for years, until this one moment where, finding it empty, her hope had evaded her. "Do you have food?" the boy asked, and she felt a rumble of tears in her throat. Slowly getting up from the ground, she'd gone and retrieved her bag and she'd guided the kids in the direction of the Trades. When they were close enough, she pointed them on, told them to tell the people inside that Mistral had sent them. They would be fed.

Alone now, her steps felt that much more shaky, even more than when she'd gotten up. Her bag slung over her shoulder, the coat of rags bundled in her arms, she'd started for Stein Labs again. There was no point staying here in wait, hoping to find him. Carter was gone, probably off to the same place where that alien woman had been taken. Would he be lost to her forever now, like everyone else?

X

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

 **DESERT BREACHERS' STAND**

By the time the van pulled up, the jump ship's team was backed up by a dozen ARGUS agents, standing in wait same as they were, waiting for the moment where they'd have to make their move against the breachers. If they were lucky, this wouldn't happen until after they had a lock on a new scrambler. And if they weren't…

They sprang from the van like soldiers jumping on to the battle field, even though the battle had yet to begin. The Flash and Kid Flash, the Green Arrow's team, Killer Frost, Wild Dog, Artemis, and…

"Samantha?" Kendra stopped, noticing her teammate had stopped, just beside the van while the others were moving forward, away from the two of them. "What is it?"

"It's them…" Samantha frowned, tapping at her ear. "Lisa, get a visual on the jump ship right now." Kendra didn't understand what she was talking about until she looked to the jump ship, too, and then she saw them… She'd looked at that video enough times, they both had. There was no mistaking it. Those were the men who'd taken Zari, the men who'd taken Ronnie Raymond. She looked back again but everyone else was out of earshot by then, and looking again, the unidentified men were moving away… Samantha was chasing after them.

"Sam!" Kendra shouted. "Damn it…" she breathed, taking off after her, gripping her bow and pulling an arrow from her quiver when she was catching up, setting up her shot as she moved, taking aim and letting the arrow fly… until it buried itself in the taller man's arm and he stumbled, dropping his large gun with a cry of surprise.

"Raymond?" the other spoke, aiming _his_ gun, not at Kendra but at Samantha, as she stood about halfway between the two of them and the archer. "Not another one of those, Robin Hood," he barked. "Unless you want little Ruby to lose her mommy." There was no chance either woman would move then. How… How did he know about Ruby? That couldn't matter, not right now. The fact that he knew, and that he had placed the threat as much on Samantha's head as on her daughter's was enough.

"What do you want?" Samantha asked, and without seeing her face, Kendra knew she was crying.

"I'll make you a deal," the man with the heat gun spoke, to Kendra. "I'll let her go back to her kid. But you have to come with us. No funny business, a surrender."

"Kendra, you can't," Lisa's voice was at her ear. Even she sounded like she knew how this was going to end. Auntie K wasn't going to put Ruby through the fear that anything could happen to her mother. "We've alerted the others, just wait a little longer, backup is on the way."

"Well?" the man asked, looking to his partner on the ground. Kendra looked to Samantha, still only seeing the back of her, standing with her hands in full view. She was trying not to give herself away, and maybe to these guys she would look in control. But Kendra was her friend, and she knew her enough to see the fear inside… the fear of what would happen to her daughter if something happened to her.

"Hey…" Kendra spoke evenly, showing her empty hand before dropping her bow and kicking it aside. She removed the quiver from her back, tossed it, too. The knife from her boot was ditched, too. She had both hands up now. "Let her go. Take me."

"Kendra… don't…" Samantha insisted.

"Hush," Kendra insisted back, taking slow steps to join her before passing her. Inching closer to the pair of them, she kept eye contact with the one with his gun on Samantha. She wanted nothing more than to wallop him good, but she knew better. He was looking at her, too, though she knew he wasn't letting Sam out of his sight either. He tipped his head when she was almost to him. On your knees, it said. So she got on her knees, sparing a look to the one with her arrow in his arm. He was glaring daggers at her, holding on to his bleeding arm. She just got to smile at this before his buddy knocked her out and she fell.

"Hey!" Samantha cried out. The bleeding one picked up his gun with his other hand, and next she knew her leg was hit with a cold like she'd never felt and she stumbled to the ground, crying out in pain. She was too lost in agony to know when the men carried Kendra off through a breach and disappeared.

"Sam!" she vaguely heard, and she wasn't sure if it was Lisa, or Jim, or both. She just thought she saw Jim's face swimming overhead before she passed out.

X

 **SOMEWHERE…**

It was impossible to know what to make of the fact that they had been granted something like a deck of cards. After two… three… four days? After all this time of being left to their own devices, provided food but little more, suddenly they were given some way of entertaining themselves. The deck had appeared, sitting in the middle of their latest tray of food, and they had taken to it at once, because what else were they going to do?

They were sitting there, in their little corner of the room, in a square, guys versus girls, when it happened. Mag looked up and muttered something that sounded like whatever 'oh my god' must have been in her species' language. Either way, they understood its intent, and when they looked to where she was looking, they saw why.

There were two people on the ground, across the room, two new captives at once.

They scrambled up, the cards abandoned, and they moved toward the strangers, or…presumed strangers. There was a man and a woman. Mag had gone crouching at the woman's side, Wallace had gone to the man. In a moment they had confirmed that both of them were merely unconscious and very much alive.

"I met her…" Ronnie had paused upon seeing the woman's face. "She…" he turned to Zari, who had moved to the woman's side, now that the shock had worn off, and she knelt down at her side, taking hold of her hand.

"Kendra? Can you hear me? Hey…" Zari spoke fretfully, touching the woman's neck, her forehead… When she finally started to open her eyes, Zari could only smile with relief. "Hey… you're okay…" She blinked, stared back, like she couldn't quite believe…

"Z?" Kendra blinked again, as Zari nodded. Kendra sat up, Mag helping her, and she hugged her friend close. "We've been so worried, we…" She had spotted Ronnie now, as he waved to her. "Cait's alright," she told him. "Well, she's coping. She's not alone." Ronnie's eyes closed for a moment, and he opened them again, full of gratitude for the information. Kendra looked around, and when she saw another body on the ground near her, for the briefest moment she thought it might have been Samantha, but it was a man. "Who's he? Is he okay?" she asked, trying to get a look at his face.

"He's still unconscious," Wallace reported, then in the next moment, remembering his manners, he extended his hand to her. "I'm Wallace…"

"West, I know. I've been working with your sister."

"Any thought where this one's from?" Ronnie asked, looking to the man's face. He could sort of figure out where breachers were from, in the right conditions.

"He's from War," Zari told him. "His name is Carter Hall." They all looked at her.

"You know him, too?" Mag asked.

"I told you, I'm from War, or I was… My mother used to run this place called the Trades. Carter would come in all the time. I haven't seen him since I came to Main."

"Zari?" a weak voice asked, and they turned back to find Carter was coming to. They approached him as he opened his eyes. "Is that really you?"

"In the flesh, Ragman," she moved to hug him. "Speaking of which, where's your coat?"

"Ragman?" Ronnie frowned.

"They took it… I don't even… Evelyn and I were on our way to Stein Labs, and then all of a sudden I was… somewhere else, in water, but not in water. I was trapped, looking up… and then I was here." The others shared a look.

"Mirror Mistress?" Wallace guessed.

"Who?" Kendra asked.

"What about you?" Zari asked. "How did you get here?"

"We were on our way to deal with some Desert breachers. Samantha saw those guys, the ones who took you both," she started, looking to Zari and Ronnie. "We went after them and… I had to go, so they wouldn't take Sam… I gave myself up." Looking to all of them, one she knew, one she'd met, two she'd heard of, it was surreal. She turned to the last one, the one who'd come along at the same time she did, by the looks of it. She held out her hand. "Kendra Saunders."

"Carter Hall," he shook her hand. Nearby, they heard a scream.

X

"Got it," Jesse breathed, dropping the bloody arrow to the ground while Lily moved up to deal with the wound. "That has to sting on top of losing," she chuckled, looking back to Nate, who'd been staying well away of this situation.

"How did we lose exactly?" he stopped pacing, glaring back at her.

"We got our one, with no bodily damage," Lyra chimed in, gesturing to herself.

"That can be arranged," Raymond grunted.

"Do you _want_ to be left to bleed out? Because _that_ can be arranged," Lily told him, reaching for bandages. Raymond said nothing, though he reserved his right to keep on glaring. "How did that even happen? Was that her?" she asked, nodding to the window to the room, indicating the woman he'd brought. Lily, Jesse and Lyra had been back already when the two guys had stumbled in through their breach, Nate carrying the woman and Raymond holding to his arm. Vandal had left as soon as the two new arrivals had been taken into the room.

"The plan was to draw one of them away, and we did. That was the easy part. They knew us on sight," Nate explained. "Then she shot him," he looked back through the window, where the woman was now conscious, eating from the tray they had offered her, same as the man from War.

"And how did you subdue her?" Jesse asked, attempting to wipe her hands clean. "I don't see any burns on her…" He looked at her for a moment, and then she understood. "You didn't do anything, did you? She let herself get taken, didn't she? Did you threaten someone again?"

"Works just fine, clearly," he didn't let himself get triggered. Jesse made a face like she wanted to make another joke, then decided against it.

"There, all done," Lily stood up, as Raymond inspected her work. "You should probably get that looked at by someone who's actually a doctor." After a few seconds, she thought she heard a quiet 'thank you.'

The room was quiet now, the five of them recalling where they'd stood before bringing back Kendra and Carter from Main and War respectively. There had been the slightest moment of détente when the subject of Haven had come up, right before they'd fallen back into territories and mistrust and they'd decided to compete by comparison. Now here they were, the girls having agreed to help with Raymond's wound without a second moment's thought.

"So… where are you two headed next?" Lyra asked. "After whichever doctor will check that arm without turning you in to the cops." Nate looked at her and she held up his hands as though to say 'just saying.'

"You could go into Fast for like… twenty seconds? Forty? No more wound, no more pain, just don't lose track of time or you'll come back out with some years on you," Jesse chuckled. "That's how we fixed her nose," she motioned to Lyra, who happily indicated her healed nose. "Five seconds, in and out." Fast Quarter, with its sped up time – compared to most other quarters – had the fastest turnaround of agents in its outpost. In a matter of weeks, they were veterans of decades. On the flipside, those of Slow Quarter seemed never to age when they visited Main Earth.

"Thanks for the tip," Nate grumbled. Lily shook her head.

"Having a little trouble showing gratitude there, fellas?" she asked. Raymond looked at her. 'Don't push it,' it said.

"We'll go have a look through…" Nate started, shrugging to himself as he rolled through the various quarters through his head. He hadn't heard of most of them before today, several they had yet to look into. "Floated. Let's go to Floated Quarter."

"Get yourselves some heavy boots," Lyra suggested before turning to Jesse and Lily. "Underground?"

"Vandal said we'd need to go through ARGUS to get into that one," Lily reminded her.

"Sounds like fun," Jesse nodded. Lily stared at her. "I know, I know, not like that… You're no fun," she sighed. "Catch you later, boys," her face stretched to a moderately sincere smile before joining her partners. A breach was opened, and they left. Nate looked to Raymond, who was testing out the motion in his arm and, when he got a nod, he opened a breach for them and they were off to Fast Quarter for a bit of healing, a firm look on their watches.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	30. DAY 059 (vol 1, ch 30)

_Day 59 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 30_

 **BREACH EARTH, FROZEN QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

The first time Seeker had found herself in Frozen, she had not known to expect the bracing cold, the snows, the ice, so much so that she'd taken a fall out of surprise and lost her way. She could not find the crossing again, and all she could think about was how cold she was. But then they'd found her, a boy and girl, siblings, and they had gotten their father, who had hurried and scooped up the underdressed girl and carried her back to their home. She hadn't been hurt in the fall, but she'd taken cold, and so she'd spent a day in the family's home, tended to by the man and his wife and their children. Eventually, equipped with better protection from the weather, she'd been able to find her way back.

"Seeker!" the girl had greeted her upon crossing today, and she looked so grown every time she saw her again, nine years old the first time, now thirteen and taller than ever. She'd come and hugged her, and Seeker had smiled, hugging her back. After the last few days, it felt good to look in on friends, even if it was for this purpose. "I'm glad you're here," the girl beamed.

"I'm glad I'm here, too," she laughed, falling in step with her. "I need to speak with your mother."

Of all the quarters she had visited, all the people she had met, there were a handful she knew she could go directly to and deliver a pack directly to, trusting they would know what to do with it, while in other locations she would need to call on her friends to help her find where to go. In Frozen, her contact was of the former.

"So this is what we have," Seeker had told the girl's mother after relaying the story of Mist, War and Haven. She pulled the pack from her bag, where several more waited to be delivered, and placed it before the woman, who opened it to find one mask, one sampling of the weapon, the Mist water, and the neutralizer, along with notes on each item. Her husband was pacing nearby, still taking in what they'd been told, while the children stood on either side of their mother, looking curiously into the box. "Can you help?" Seeker asked. The woman looked at her, nodded at once.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, FUTURE QUARTER**

Jax had asked that he might visit this one himself. He couldn't pretend as though it was in great part out of curiosity. He'd heard of Future Quarter plenty of times, but he still had difficulty picturing it in his head. When he'd gone across the breach he created, he had to say… it wasn't exactly what he had expected, but oh it was still so fantastic. He might have tried to explore it some more if he didn't know he was due in so many other quarters after this.

Walking through the streets toward the address he'd been given, to a friend of Doctor Stein's, all he could think was that this still looked very much like his home, just… different, evolved… Impressive didn't cut it, and much as he tried to come up with them, few words rose to the challenge of describing the look of the place. After a while he just stopped trying and simply looked around as he went. He had been told how to behave, so not to draw attention to himself, and he did all this as best he could without giving himself away.

When he reached the address, he pressed the chime pad and heard the tones of the bell from inside. He wasn't sure about standing out here for too long, in the open, but then the door opened and he looked back toward it to find a man staring back at him... and Jax took a step back in shock.

"Jefferson?" the man was shocked, too, though he recovered faster, reaching out to pull him inside and shut the door before anyone saw them. Jax hadn't taken his eyes off him.

"Dad?" he blinked now, like just saying the word had been enough to bring up tears. The man… his father… his father pulled him into his arms, and though his arms initially closed around him in reflex, when the shock broke, when he felt those arms around him, Jax returned the embrace with strength. "How… I-I don't understand…" he spoke. "I thought you were…"

He thought back to the moment when they had all been figuring out where he would go and where Seeker would go, delivering the packs. When he had expressed a desire to take Future, Seeker had said it might be better if she went, as she'd been there before and it might be problematic. But Doctor Stein… Doctor Stein had backed him up. He'd wanted him to go, he… he'd known… The very first day he'd met the man, Martin Stein had vowed to help him find his father. Now he had. There were so many more questions he'd have to ask the man when he got back to War, but for now… for now…

"How did you find me?" Mr. Jackson asked. "How did you get here?"

"Do you know… Martin Stein?" Jax asked back. His father let out a breath, chuckling.

"Yes, I know Marty." Feeling this conversation would be a lot of long stories, and forcing himself to remember he couldn't stay, not right now, no matter how much he wanted to, Jax went about explaining the reason for his visit before putting a pack in his father's hands. This being Future Quarter, he figured for sure they would have no trouble dealing with this, and possibly they would know a lot more than the rest of them did, he just hadn't expected that someone to be him.

"I… I have to go. More packs to deliver," he'd finally made himself stand.

"Wait, Jefferson, I…" his father stood as well.

"I'll come back," Jax promised. "If… if you want me to."

"Of course I want you to," his father insisted, then, "I suppose my absence hasn't made this evident for you. But when you come again, we will talk, and I will tell you everything. I swear." Jax looked at him, like he wanted to internalize every part of this moment, in case there really wasn't a next time.

"Okay…" he finally nodded before turning to open his breach and jump away from Future… and his father…

X

 **BREACH EARTH, SLOW QUARTER**

Seeker could just see, whenever she'd mention Slow, or even Fast Quarter, the way people would imagine it. They would imagine everyone moving like slugs in Slow, and whizzing by in Fast… It wasn't that way, of course, not once you were there. Once you were in the Quarter, as far as you could see, time moved at a regular pace, and if you didn't keep an eye on your watch, working out the time difference, you could have yourself a surprise once you went back where you'd come from.

Seeker _had_ seen these places the way they imagined them, of course. The first time she'd ever become aware of either of those places, it had been Slow. When she'd seen the opening, she'd been so surprised, confused, that she hadn't dared step across. From where she'd stood, back in War, she would look into this place, and it looked… normal, plain, really… except… except everyone was moving so slow, they almost seemed to be standing still. If she hadn't seen a car, advancing at a snail's pace down a street…

Finally, it had been in mentioning it to the Waverider team, in running into them one day, that she had learned what that place was, just as she'd learned about its counterpart. She'd been told about how to keep track of the time, back in 'standard' time and those in accelerated or decelerated times. This many seconds, this many minutes, how long it would take…

She had taken them both, not wanting Jax to get turned around and getting lost in Fast, returning to find he had been gone weeks… or longer. She'd already gone now, dropping off the pack where it needed to go with haste, and after a return to normal time via a stop in Haven, she'd gone into Slow. It was some chance her crossing would take her very close to where she needed to go. She would lose hours by the time she came back from a visit that would have been all of minutes to her. In times like these, she wished she had the power of a speedster.

The man she was to visit here was a contact of Doctor Stein's. When she came to his door, he argued for two minutes before allowing her inside and all she could think was 'well there goes half an hour.' Finally though he had allowed her through his door, and doing her best to explain without rushing she had explained the situation before presenting the man with a pack. He grumbled, but she knew that, when he said he'd take care of it he meant it. All she could hope for now was that the time difference wouldn't mean that they'd still be too early in the process by the time something happened, if it did happen.

As soon as she'd been done with the man, she had hurried back to her crossing, jumping into Haven and getting a look at the time. She had been gone four hours, nearly four and a half. With a sigh, she looked back to her bag and figured out where to go next.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, MIST QUARTER**

Having been here before now, Jax was sure it would be a bit easier to deal with, but it really wasn't… it was harder. He knew what to expect now, and even as he'd gotten his mask and shield on, he'd felt a tremor of hesitation in his hand before opening the breach and jumping through. But he had to, they were depending on him, so he went. All he could think was that if they came back here and used the weapon they had made of the water here, on these people already struggling along from the effects of the air, it would just be a new low.

He had to remind himself of the benefit of his visit. It wouldn't just be about dropping a pack, not here. Even as he'd stepped through, he could just feel the difference. The modifications Catherine Grant had made to the masks made it that the air here had even less effect on him. And in his pack he carried the specs for those new masks. They would be able to modify everyone's masks that way. They wouldn't get to remove their masks, no, but it should reduce the sickness levels, and that could go a long way.

He had been led to another contact of Seeker's here. Much as coming here was something she struggled to do, she would do it, when she had no other choice. Getting to know her, someone who could do what he could do… in her own way… it had made him more curious than ever about all those other places he hadn't seen before. Now he wanted to see all those quarters, the good, the bad…

She'd been led to a brother and sister, and upon delivering the pack to them, explaining what it contained, they had been instantly intrigued. They'd looked at him, at his mask, inspected the readings… this was going to change lives, they could see it. As sickly as most of them were, he hadn't seen anyone so energized in Mist as those two. Jax had stood and watched as they brought forth their respective children, inspected the specs, and set to modifying the masks, right there on their faces. And when he saw how the effects took hold, how they seemed at once to breathe a little easier, he felt a swell of pride… He'd helped make this happen.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

 **STEIN LABS**

After the Waverider had taken off once more, those who stayed behind could only do as they'd been doing already. They kept watch over the progress down at the resistance base – from afar – while also preparing more neutralizer, and looking into other solutions to their ongoing problems. They would receive updates from the infirmaries where the victims from the prison had been transported, hearing how many of them were now out of the woods, others still critical. There had only been three more deaths, and it was hard to see it this way but it _was_ good news. There could have been so many more.

"Martin…" Laura suddenly breathed, getting a glimpse of surveillance outside the labs. Slade, standing not far behind, had seen it, too, and he'd sped off at once, returning in seconds, carrying Evelyn Sharp. On the surveillance feed she'd looked to be vacillating on her feet like she was about to drop, and when the speedster from Project Mercury brought her back to them, he set her down on the nearest bed as the others moved at once to get a look at her.

"What happened to her?" M'gann asked. "Where's…" she started to ask, but then she could see, same as the others did, how the girl was clinging to a bundle of rags, so tightly that no one could have taken it from her. The coat, Carter's coat…

"Evelyn? Hey… You're alright, you're back at Stein Labs," Laura went to stand near her daughter's friend, brushing gently at her forehead. She turned her eyes to meet the woman's gaze. "What happened?" Evelyn stared for a moment, before swallowing back a sob.

"Carter… they took Carter," she spoke weakly.

"Who did?" Laura asked. Evelyn didn't have to reply. She turned her head, to look at Martin Stein, at Harrison Wells, and they knew. Lily, Jesse, Lyra…

"I think… she's been shocked," Harrison Wells moved forward, recognizing his daughter's handiwork now.

It took a few minutes before she was able to, but finally Evelyn told them what happened. They had been able to take the bag from over her shoulder – she didn't keep hold of that one like she did the rags – and when she told them what its contents were and where they'd gotten them from, M'gann had moved out of the room to make contact with the Waverider, recalling them once more.

"We were coming back here, and then… we heard a kid, it sounded like it was in trouble, but… it must have been one of them. They tricked us. And then when I looked back, Carter was gone, he was… in a puddle and he couldn't get out."

"Lily…" Martin breathed.

"And then… I… I don't really remember what happened next, except I woke up, and Carter was gone, and…" she looked down to the coat in her arms.

They felt a little less hesitant about dipping into the resistance's network this time, finding footage of Carter's taking, and the attack on Evelyn. She didn't want to see it, not yet, but the others looked, as helpless now as they'd been when Mag had been taken. That was two of their people taken right under their noses now. And as before, all they could do was send the information on to ARGUS, to Iris West, that she may add Carter Hall to their list of missing.

As they waited for the return of the Waverider, while Stein, Wells, and Zeta returned to their work, with Agent Ramirez backing them up, most of the others, as they had nothing more to do in the moment than wait around, gladly turned their attention to Evelyn, to caring for her and supporting her. She was still so visibly shaken by Carter's kidnapping, likely that more than any attack on her. He was all the family she had left, best friend and found brother all rolled in one. And now that he was gone, she might have let herself believe she was all alone. But they would be with her.

The Waverider had landed back at the ARGUS outpost – they could not just land anywhere in War, as their initial arrival had shown – and within minutes the first to come hurrying through the room where the others were either working or sitting with Evelyn was Kara, closely followed by her sister.

"Kara…" Evelyn had ignored all previous recommendations for her to remain lying down for a while, hopping off the bed and hurrying to hug her friend, a deep well of relief with Carter missing as he was. Kara had held the girl, too, understanding maybe more than anyone here could what she was feeling in that moment.

"You'll be alright," Kara vowed calmly. "They'll find him. He's not gone for good, do you hear me? He's coming home." Evelyn looked like she wanted to cry, but at the words she just nodded, and breathed deep, and swallowed back the fear. She had to believe it. She had to be strong again. She'd been shaken, but she wasn't broken. "Come on," Kara led her to the bed again. "Lie down, I'll stay with you."

"The two of them, they found these, down at the school, the test site," Slade told Ralph in the other room. He showed the contents of Evelyn's bag, which had been spread out on Eliot Zeta's old work table.

"We won't know what it all means just yet, but it could lead us to whoever's behind this," Agent Ramirez added. His voice was even, but they could see part of him felt responsible. He'd let Evelyn and Carter go on their own, and even if there was no saying he could have stopped what happened – actually, there was about no chance that would have happened, and he might have gotten himself killed – he still felt like he should have been there with them.

"Then it won't have been for nothing," Ralph sighed, looking at the table, looking back to where Evelyn sat, holding Kara's hand.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	31. DAY 061 (vol 1, ch 31)

_Day 61 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 31_

 **BREACH EARTH, LIGHT QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

Jax still walked like his body was responding on reflex because his mind was far away, far… back in Future Quarter, with his father. His _father_ … He'd seen him, he'd spoken to him. He couldn't get used to the idea just yet. After so many years believing him dead, and then there had been that day, where he had seen him, though it could just as easily have been his mind playing tricks on him… Following him that day had led to his getting these powers he had, to create breaches, this ability to get to him again, now that he knew where he was.

Walking under the permanent sun of Light Quarter, he could hardly see this place as any different from other quarters, although there was notably very little in the way of population out and about as he went along. He had an address to follow and he did, looking at the houses. Most of the windows he saw looked to be covered, and he didn't put two and two together about what it might mean until he went and knocked on the door he had been meant to visit and was in time greeted by an old woman who looked as though she'd been awakened – against her wishes – in the middle of the night.

Then it hit him. It _was_ the middle of the night for them. Broad daylight was inescapable, and he'd just sort of let himself think it was daytime.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am, I… Martin Stein sent me?" The woman grumbled, nodded groggily, and stepped aside to let him in. He walked in, and she shut the door, shuffling off toward her kitchen. Jax could only follow. "I didn't mean to wake you, it's my first time here, I didn't know…"

"What does he want?" the woman asked, moving through her kitchen in the process of getting what he eventually saw to be coffee prepared. "The man does me one favor, and this is what I get." Jax hesitated. "Alright, he saved my life, but you would think he would warn his messengers better. Now… cream or sugar?"

"Uh… I'm alright, thank you."

"Right, daytime…" she nodded. Jax came to understand then the woman was probably very nice, if she wasn't ripped from sleep.

So he set off telling what he had to say, the tale starting to come out of him now like he had been saying it all his life. He presented the pack from his bag, and the woman opened it and inspected the contents with frail yet strong hands.

"I visited Mist once," the woman declared. "Horrible place, good people." She held up the container with the sample of Mist water and shook her head. "Terrible… I will get right to work. And you tell Martin he owes _me_ now," she told him with a smirk. He smiled.

"I will."

X

 **BREACH EARTH, UNDERGROUND QUARTER**

Getting to Underground was something of a process, at first, though in time Seeker had come to figure her way easily enough. It involved passing through Weighted Quarter's ARGUS outpost, where she was friends with the agents in charge of crossings. From there, she could make her way into the Underground outpost, and from there she would be given passage through the tunnel taking her down, down, down into the city.

As vast differences from other quarters went, this one took the prize. Sure, the city as resembling to the ones elsewhere still existed in some shape, above ground, but it was a desolate shell, while the new city they had created, here… The new city thrived, making the best of their circumstance. This was not just some vast hole in the ground. This was a community. Few were those here who had ever set foot on the ground, ever leaving this place, but if you asked any of them if they missed it they would genuinely say that they didn't.

They had no contacts here, at least none who would have had the knowledge and ability to handle the pack she was bringing them and would be able to make of it what needed to be made. Seeker had friends here though, and she had to hope _they_ knew where she might go.

"Seeker!" her little friend from Mist came running when she saw her, throwing her arms around her waist. Seeker beamed, hugging her back.

"How are you doing?" she asked, brushing at the girl's slightly brittle hair. Having gone from Mist, to Haven, and now to Underground, in the span of a couple of days, the girl and her family were faring well enough with the changes, and Seeker was pleased to hear it.

The people she'd brought the family to were some of her oldest friends from outside of War. Their son had a similar power as her, and when it had first come to him he had ended up in War by accident. Seeker had found him, ten years old and terrified, and she had brought him back, promising to show him how to better grasp his abilities, a promise she had kept.

When she had set them with the goal of her visit, the boy's parents had no one they knew of, not directly, but after making some inquiries around, they had pointed her in the direction she needed to go. The Mist girl and her young Underground friend had tagged along, one for the curiosity of exploration, the other for guidance. The place she was taken to was called the Maintenance Guild, which according to the boy was the place where they would see to the stability of the underground city.

At the guild, they found their contact, a young man who quickly showed skill beyond his years. Upon hearing Seeker's tale and receiving the pack, he had moved straight to work, recruiting a few assistants. Whatever happened, if it ever came to Underground, they would be ready. The way the city was constructed, once the neutralizer was replicated in the required quantities, it would be easily distributed, Seeker's little friend promised.

"You look after yourselves, okay?" Seeker smiled, looking to the boy and girl, getting hugs from each as they made their way back to the outpost and the tunnel back to the surface, where she could cross out of the quarter.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, NATURE QUARTER**

The moment Jax had stepped through and into this new quarter, he just had to stop and look around. He knew this was the same spot, same city, just a different quarter, but he couldn't see anything to confirm it, no landmark… All around him, all he saw was trees, and leaves, vines, flowers… He had to stare, very hard, to picture the layout around him, and then he could actually sort of see… Somewhere in all this, there were the bones of the city, sure, but it was as though plant life had completely run it over. Like the city had died, and sat there for a long, long time, until nature had reclaimed it, and then… then the people had found it again, and settled in it, just as it was.

He was meant to find someone who lived not too far from the ARGUS outpost, and even that was a sight. The building was there, about the only thing that retained a significantly brick and glass sort of composition, although the ground seemed intent on swallowing it up, reclaiming it for the city.

His contact was a girl of all of thirteen, barefooted and looking like she spent most of her time running through the forest, not in some lab. He thought for sure this was a joke, until she told him to 'humor her,' and so he did. He told her about what had been happening in other quarters, showed her the pack box. She pulled it out of his hands and, against his protests, she opened it. The mask, in her hand, looked so strange, like it didn't belong.

But then she started to inspect it, the rest of the pack tucked under her arm, and as she did this she listed out its specs, how it worked, how it had been modified. She looked impressed, not in awe. Then she looked at the rest of the items in the box, and she sounded optimistic that she could look after the replication and distribution across her city.

"You…" Jax blinked, looked around, looked at her again. "How?" She smirked.

"ARGUS brat, I guess," she told him. "Mom and Dad were posted in Future when they had me. We transferred to Nature last year. I like it here," she declared with a smile, looking around, too, though with knowing eyes. "Say hi to Seeker for me?"

"Y-yeah, okay… thanks."

X

 **BREACH EARTH, DESERT QUARTER**

In the years she'd been making her way from quarter to quarter, Seeker had become versed in the various requirements attached to some of them. In Mist, wear a mask. In Frozen, bundle up, and in Desert, lighten the layers but stay protected from the sun all the same. In Floated, heavy boots, in Weighted, pack light… It was second nature now. Still, there were some things she had difficulty setting aside in travelling to some quarters. Her jacket, for one. She knew she'd have to ditch it before heading into Desert, but she couldn't leave it anywhere it could get lost, taken.

Once she'd changed, stashing her jacket safely, she'd made the jump. As soon as she'd set foot in Desert, she could feel something was going on here. She couldn't say what, or where, just that it was near. She was going to have to make a choice, so she made it. First things first, a quick pack delivery.

She was to deliver this one to a pair of brothers, twins, friends of Doctor Stein. The men looked as though they might have been contemporaries of the man in War. She had laid out the story again, handed them the pack. She was still thinking about that feeling she'd had on crossing, and then one of the men had touched her arm.

"Best stay away from Market Square. They started gathering at sun up, only trouble," he shook his head, and his brother did the same.

Seeker started for Market Square after leaving the brothers. The closer she got, the feeling was still there in her, and only getting stronger. Moving along, it felt no different than being back in War, treading cautiously. It wasn't until she got closer that she started to recognize this feeling… feelings… The first told her of a tear, the kind she used to hop between quarters, which was just… widening, like the edges fraying away from use. And the other thing she felt was that sort of 'punched through' feeling she got when the Waverider or its jump ship was nearby.

Nearing the square, she first saw the cluster of men and women, Desert born, standing near the source of that edge fraying feeling. They were crossing… waiting to cross… all of them. This had to do with what was going on back on Main, she realized, and it was already alarming on this side, so she could only guess what it looked like on the other side. That must have been the jump ship's crossing she had felt, they had to be here, somewhere…

Knowing they had to be here, she only had to consider the square and where someone might hide to keep an eye, and she spotted Stargirl with her staff, along with another blonde, both of them watching the scene down in the square. After a moment's hesitation she started quietly toward them. To no surprise, they'd heard her coming and turned at once. Stargirl had been quick to tell the other woman that Seeker was a friend.

"What are you doing here?" Ava asked, quietly.

"Delivering packs across the quarters. If there's an attack, they'll have a chance at being prepared," Seeker explained, showing the inside of her bag with the remaining packs inside. "You heard about Haven?"

"We did," said the woman, before she was finally introduced.

"This is… This is Sara Lance," Ava introduced her.

"Oh!" Seeker reacted, "You're Hourman's girl? The one who was lost?"

"Yeah," Sara confirmed, the connection to her father taking her by surprise. "And you are…"

"Seeker, War Quarter, breach hopper… hi," she nodded, all the while moving past them to see into the square. "What are you two doing here?"

"Waiting for a window," Ava sighed, looking to Sara. "There are maybe a hundred of them, on this side and back on Main. They _will_ attack, they _will_ hurt or kill a lot of good people back there. We have a way to stop it, we just need a chance to do it."

"With that thing in the case?" Seeker guessed without turning around.

"With this thing in the case," Sara confirmed.

Seeker closed her eyes, took a breath… felt out… She sighed.

"There's nothing there, if I could get you close enough, I would, I…" She looked down to her bag, laid her hand over the remaining packs. "I have to keep going, get them ready in case the attacks reach them…" She stood back, facing the two women.

"Go, we've got this. You do your part," Sara smiled, holding out her hand. Seeker smiled back, nodding and shaking her hand. "Good luck."

"You, too," Seeker replied, nodding to Ava, shaking her hand before moving back to her crossing. She paused, turned again. "I know these people. Them down there, I don't know why they're helping make trouble, but that's not the norm. You need help? Ask for it," she gestured back toward the city. Sara and Ava nodded, and Seeker smiled. "Happy revolution," she tipped her head and ran.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**

They had no certain leads. The only time they would be able to truly extrapolate _anything_ would require a second attack… and they couldn't have that. But it was as Ralph had told Detectives Garrick and Darhk: they knew the city, they worked for it, they could figure this out, or at least help them pinpoint a few potential targets. So they'd gotten to work, the Waverider team, the detectives, and the officers from Main. They had been welcomed into the outpost, where they could set up a command post of sorts. Whatever data they might have required, back inside the precinct, remained off limits.

In time, they'd generated a list. They needed to inspect each location, maybe find… something, to tell them whether it was at risk or safe, if this could be established at all. Officers and agents would remain on patrol, all the while attempting not to send the people of the city into a panic. With the news of the attack on the precinct running rampant, they were already teetering over the edge as it was.

Ralph was following along with the two detectives, and Officers Chase and Willis from Main, the Hawks, the Firestorm pair, and the Danvers sisters along with them. They were at their next location, walking through the city hall. As they went along, they would exchange quiet conversation. The detectives had asked the officers about what was happening back on Main. Chase and Willis had relayed what they could about the breachers' invasion, the constant push back of everyone, agents, officers, heroes…

"If the time comes where we can hold alone, you go back to your city. You do what you can for your people, and we'll do for ours," Garrick told the officers.

"We will, sir," Willis promised.

"Attacks here, invasions there…" Darhk frowned, taking in his surroundings.

"And kidnappings," Barry added.

"We've heard," Garrick turned to him. "Any of them…" he started to ask, nodding to him.

"Our friend, Ronnie," Barry looked to Eobard and back to the detective. "Two others who were helping us. Two who were helping on Main, and one who was from here, in Haven."

"Who was this?" Garrick asked.

"Wallace West," Barry recalled. "From what I heard, his sister is out on Main now, helping ARGUS with the invasion."

"West… Related to Joseph West?" the detective asked, and Barry nodded. "Heard about _him_ earlier." He paused, thinking. "And all these people who were taken, they were all part of your teams, here, in War, or on the other Earth?"

"Most of them… Two were with us in War, two were on Main…"

"And the others?"

"Well, one was on Main, she's a reporter, and the other, that's Wallace West… He wasn't involved in anything, really, I think."

"But he was taken, so there must have been a reason," said Garrick, and Barry looked at him, the detective considering one case even as he dealt with another, and it never looked as though either jeopardized his focus toward the other.

Behind them, doing their own part of inspecting, were the Danvers sisters. Alexandra watched her little sister with some amount of fascination, as she seemed to be emitting a low frequency, like some kind of sonar. When she slowed to a stop, Alexandra did the same.

"Did you find something?" she asked. Kara had stopped giving off the sound. She was looking around, like she was trying to grasp something just out of her reach. "Kara?"

"I… It's nothing," she started to move again, though Alexandra could just see…

"You don't look like you think it's nothing."

"It doesn't matter, we're not… Please, just leave it alone." She was getting very good at reading these evasive tactics of her sister's, and whatever this was, it had nothing to do with the attacks, the search. It was something to do with her, and to affect her so closely… She was remembering something, or something was familiar, it…

It hit her now. City hall. There had been one year when they were both in elementary school where they had taken a field trip here. Alexandra remembered, Kara had gotten separated from her group, and when she had found out about it, she'd gone back with a teacher to look for her, and they'd found her quietly sitting on her own, staring at a painting on the wall opposite her. When Alexandra had found her, Kara had said that she'd done like their father had told them to do when they got lost. Stay where you are until someone finds you again.

If she wasn't mistaken, they'd just passed the spot where Kara had gone to sit and wait, all those years ago.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	32. DAY 063 (vol 1, ch 32)

_Day 63 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 32_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **STEIN LABS**

Jax had his final delivery of a pack in Weighted Quarter. Much as Seeker and the Waverider team had told him what it would feel like, he really couldn't have been prepared for it, no more than he could know the feeling when he would return to what he was familiar with, in this case his arrival point at Stein Labs, back in War once again. It reminded him of playing around with friends as a kid, having one of them pulling at his arm while you were trying to pull away by putting all your weight down the other way… and then they let go.

That was his arrival, stepping through the breach and immediately tripping and nearly face planting, before breaking his fall and stopping on all fours, breathing deep until the surprise could wear off. As he sat there, he felt the briefest thumping, followed by heavy, heavy steps, behind him. He turned his head to find Seeker standing there, crouching to unlatch some impressive looking boots and stepping out of them with her own shoes still on her feet.

"Weighted, huh?" she gave a lighthearted chuckle. He nodded. "Floated," she pointed to the boots. "You'll get used to it," she held out her hand and helped him back up. "How did it go?" she asked as they walked to rejoin their teammates. He opened his mouth, meaning to tell her about the things he'd seen and done in any number of quarters, but the one he kept thinking of was Future, and it was all he could talk about.

"I… met my dad," he told her, and she stopped him.

"What?" she asked, stunned. "Where?"

"In Future. My whole life, I thought he'd died before I was born. That's what I was told. Once, I thought I saw him, and I tried to follow him, and that's how I got my powers. Doctor Stein promised me the day I met him that he'd help me find him if he was really alive, and…"

"It seemed a shame to let that opportunity go by." There was Doctor Stein, his chair just ahead of them in the hall. "I hope you'll forgive me for not warning you ahead of time." Jax, well in control of his legs now, walked ahead of Seeker, coming up to the man and leaning over to hug him.

"You kept your promise… thank you," Jax breathed deep. He'd been forced to push down the feelings flooding him from the moment he'd come face to face with his father, but now he was back in Stein Labs, and it all just sort of came from him. His hands might have been shaking just a bit. When he felt Doctor Stein's hand patting lightly at his back, he took another breath, finally standing back a moment later. "Delivered all my packs. Everyone's getting to work."

"Good," Doctor Stein nodded with a kind smile. "Miss Seeker, I presume the same from you?"

"Yes, all good," she confirmed, trying not to laugh just a bit at being called Miss.

"Then you'd better come along. There have been some… developments," Stein told them both, the tone of his voice making them both worry deeply that someone might have died… if not several someones.

Walking back into the room, they found some people hard at work, others stood around a table laden with objects they hadn't seen before. But their attention went to where they could see Evelyn sitting up a bed, something they couldn't identify just yet bundled in her lap.

"Her colleague, Mr. Hall, was abducted," Stein told the two of them, and Seeker had already moved to go and see Evelyn, Jax meaning to follow her, when Stein put a hand to his arm and stopped him. "As was your friend, Miss Saunders, back on Main Earth." For the second time in minutes, Jax felt as though his balance had been ripped from him.

"Kendra?" he managed to speak. Already he'd been trying so hard not to let Zari's disappearance trouble him, no matter how much he wanted her to be found, but now that was two of his friends, two of his teammates… Mike was in Haven now, helping with the team out there, and he had to ask Stein if _he_ had been informed. "He has," the man confirmed. "He'd asked that you contact him as soon as you returned and were told." Jax nodded, meaning to go and do just that, but he couldn't help himself.

"Who was it that took her? Was there surveillance?"

"Yes. It was the same men again, not…" Stein told him, turning distracted, thinking of his daughter. "It's right there," he pointed to one of the screens. Jax hesitated, but then he had to know… he had to see what had happened.

So he watched. He watched as Samantha got caught up between the two men and Kendra. He watched Kendra shoot one of the men with an arrow. He couldn't read lips like Gideon could, but he could see the other man talking, and then… Kendra had come forward, tossing her weapons aside, kneeling before the man in surrender… and being knocked out cold. He felt a fire roil in him at that, but even more so as the injured one shot at Samantha and she toppled to the ground in screaming pain. In no time the men and Kendra were gone, and there was Jim coming into the frame to tend to Samantha.

"If you'd like to call your friend in Haven, we can patch it through the Waverider."

As Jax moved to try and reach Mike, Agent Spivot moved from where she'd been keeping an eye on the progress at the resistance army base to go and join M'gann and Slade.

"It looks like we're being summoned," she reported. They moved to look at the screen. One side held the frozen image Patty had captured, showing the General looking straight at one of the resistance's network cameras, her face and hand collectively letting them know she knew they were watching… and she wanted them to come over. The other half of the image showed the group of enemy aligned agents being allowed through the base's gates.

"She did it," M'gann was as amazed as she was relieved and pleased. Whatever the details of this conversation and agreement were, she couldn't say, but by the looks of it they were being invited to come along and find out. "Detective Raatko, Agent Spivot, Mr. Regan, if you would accompany Slade and I to the base?"

X

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**

It was not a good feeling, and she didn't want to have to put it into words. Still, there it was. They'd been walking through city hall, doing what they were meant to be doing, and then she'd felt it… This place was not completely foreign to her. Kara knew in a moment that she had been here before… long ago. And being back here now, in that one moment, she'd been hit with a rush of… not memories but _emotions_. She remembered being in that one particular spot and feeling many things. Fear, but then peace… and then happiness.

But that was all. She had the emotions, but not the memories, and one without the other left her feeling that much more confused… frustrated. She didn't want this. Her mother, her sister, they couldn't understand how she was much more satisfied having those old memories gone and out of reach.

It didn't stop her being glad for having them in her life now, when it seemed like they thought she couldn't be the complete person that she was until she remembered… what her birthday cake tasted like when she was a kid, every year, or what was her favorite book when she was eight. It was like they only accepted that she _was_ their Kara, until her memories came back and she wasn't this stranger who'd grown up in another quarter and without them anymore.

Lately though, it felt like young Kara Danvers was finally, finally taking to scratching at the barrier between them, letting out slivers of one thing or another. And she wished she would stop.

Ahead of them, Eobard and Barry followed the detectives and officers. Eobard held a small object in his hand, and the both of them kept on absently peering down at it. The sensor had been the first thing developed thanks to the items brought back by Evelyn – and Carter, whether or not he'd made it to the labs to deliver them, too – and passed on to the teams in Haven. Quickly constructed, the sensor was meant to alert them to the proximity of a concentrated level of the poisonous agent.

"We don't even know if it's going to work, but the only way we'll find that out is if a grenade gets close… which we don't want," Barry told his partner, who gave him a look and received a shrug for it.

"Well if they _do_ try it on this building, we won't be close enough to know until it's too late, not while we're actually in the building," Eobard pointed out.

"Right," Barry frowned to himself before looking to Eobard. "Then let's go out there… Get an aerial survey," he pointed up.

Soon after, Firestorm rocketed in the sky surrounding city hall. It was strange to think how so much had changed for the two of them in the last few days. Barry remembered the conflict in him in recent times, whenever he and Eobard would merge into Firestorm. The man, his unexpected partner in this life of heroics, had changed, and their mindsets were getting so far from one another as to be in opposition, and by the very nature of their power together… how could they maintain the balance they needed if they were pulling apart?

The last few days, for all the chaos, the ceaseless running around, the injuries, the deaths, the kidnappings… These days had done this one good thing where he was concerned. Eobard had gotten his wake up call, the one Barry had been trying to get him to have all this time, after seeing the other side, seeing Mist… War…

And now here they were, flying over Haven, and Barry could feel it… they were level with one another again, balanced. He knew that Eobard had to be aware of his problems before, through their connection, even though neither of them had brought it up. Now that it was over, maybe they would get a chance to talk, or…

The sensor, clipped at his wrist, started to give off a low, slow pulse. A blue light flashed along with it, all together indicating that it had picked up a concentration nearby, though still some distance away. The closer they'd get, the faster the sound and the light would go.

"Look for vantage points, for the launch, we need to get closer," Eobard's voice told him in his head.

"Right," Barry looked before diving in flight. At the same time, he activated his channel to the others. "We're picking up a signal, evacuate the building now!"

"Understood," Ralph's voice replied. "Direct us when you locate the launcher."

This proved harder said than done at first, but as they flew along, listening to the change in the tone, they finally picked up an increase, which sent them following… following…

"Northeast," Eobard directed him, and Barry went, though to this day it would remind him of early days, where, for as much as he could take directions from the ground, having to do the same in flight had boggled him for some time.

"Signal's slowing down, I think we're losing it," Barry frowned.

"That's not it," Eobard told him. "I think we've been made. They're running." Trusting this, Barry stayed on course, trying to go faster, fast enough to catch up, and as he went he was pleased to see that the signal was picking up again, and getting faster.

"They have to be driving. How do I know which one it is?" Barry looked to the vehicles rolling below them.

"That one there, the blue van, follow it!" Eobard guided him. Barry spotted it and… yes, it definitely looked like it was trying to get away from something or someone. "Ralph, are you tracking me?" he asked.

"Yes, and following. What's happening?"

"They're in a van, a blue van just ahead of me," Barry reported, before listing off the plate number. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just keep following, don't engage. We'll try and cut them off." Even as he said this, Barry spotted a motorcycle whizzing by, and he just barely recognized the Danvers sisters, Alexandra driving, with Kara holding on to her from behind. "We need that grenade _intact_."

The chase carried on for a while. Minutes went by, as Firestorm, the van, the motorcycle, and whatever vehicle Ralph was in all sped along, further away from city hall but nowhere near any indication that they were about to stop. The entire time, Barry listened to that steady signal at his wrist. He wasn't responsible for the thought that had gotten into his mind, he suspected it was through Eobard and their connection, but now he feared the suspect or suspects inside that van might try and cut their losses and toss the grenade mid drive. Victims were victims, no?

But the signal remained steady throughout, and so they kept going.

"Whoever they are, they don't look like they're interested in stopping. Can we do anything to change that?" Barry asked.

"Everything I've seen of the city has been identical enough to our own for me to suggest there might. Do you remember the War breacher four years ago, Christmas Eve?"

"Got it," Barry diverted off his course, letting the signal show how he was distancing them from the van and the grenade. He could still picture where they were headed, and what was ahead of them. He would have to put on everything he had to get far enough ahead to get things ready in time, but if there was ever a time where his motivation was on point, it was now, with a break in this thing they'd been running to stop for days, and the potential to keep hundreds of people alive.

When they arrived where they needed to be, Firestorm set down and immediately got to work. Crouching and kneeling, Barry set his hands to the ground and concentrated, even as Eobard guided him on from inside his head. He could also hear the signal getting stronger, and stronger… the van was coming.

"Barry, quickly!" Eobard told him, as though he wasn't trying to do that.

But finally… finally, it was working, and then he shot back up into the sky, out of the way, as the van came speeding along, never suspecting – never assuming – that it would find itself coming straight into a deep opening in the middle of the street, filled with water. That the entire thing had been concrete and earth and whatnot just a minute ago was beside the point.

The van came along, unable to turn away in time, and as it hit the water it finally was forced to a stop. Hot on its trail, the Danvers' motorcycle came to a stop in a smooth arc before the hole in the ground. The two women jumped off at once, moving to either side of the hole to look through the van's windows.

Kara and Alexandra spied a single passenger, a young woman, presently panicking as she found herself stuck in that hole, maybe thinking she would sink, and sink, until the water was over her head, even though it would only ever go to her waist if it did get that far.

"Get out of there, nice and slow!" Alexandra called, standing on the side of the driver side door. The woman looked at her, turned her head and looked at Kara, who stood outside the passenger side door.

When Kara gave off a sharply directed cry, shattering the passenger side window and making the driver jump, startled, to turn away and cover her face, Alexandra looked to her sister.

"Stop!" she called out. Kara didn't hesitate, moving up and snatching the grenade the moment she saw it through the busted window, sitting in protective padding. Backing away now, she signalled her sister: she'd secured the grenade. Alexandra couldn't help but frown, though she did move in, getting the door open and pulling the driver out of the bobbing van and dropping her to the ground. The woman only looked glad to be on solid ground again, breathing hard.

"Where's the grenade?" Barry asked as Firestorm landed next to Alexandra and the woman on the ground. Alexandra pointed to the other side of the van, where Kara was now marching to meet the approaching ARGUS vehicle from which emerged Ralph Dibny. She held out the grenade, and he motioned for someone to bring a case where the thing could be deposited before being transported back to the outpost. "What happened?"

"We got what we came for," Alexandra told him, though she didn't look wholly happy about how it went down. "And now we get to have a talk," she turned her attention to the woman on the ground, still cowering. Alexandra had had plenty of time to wonder about what growing up in War had done to her little sister, and for the most part she could look past it, but then there would be times where she would see Kara do something like this and wonder…

Well, she didn't know what she really wondered, or at least she didn't want to let herself wonder it. Her little sister had been through so much, she had to remember it. So much had been lost when she'd lost her memories, growing up then as this new version of herself, the one called Kara Zeta. But Alexandra firmly believed that memories only went so far, that underneath all that Kara was still Kara. Still, in these moments… in these moments she didn't know what to think anymore.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	33. DAY 065 (vol 1, ch 33)

_Day 65 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 33_

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **HOME OF ALEXANDRA AND KARA DANVERS**

They'd gotten back on the motorcycle, following the other cars as they made back for the outpost with the woman from the van and the grenade she'd been meant to launch. This was their biggest win up to that point. It wasn't a complete win, but it was something real, substantial. Alexandra was aware of all this, but right then she couldn't focus on that. Before long, she'd sped up and the motorcycle had zipped past the rest of them without a word.

They were in their quarter, they were home, and if she wanted to have a talk with her sister, then where better? Kara had shouted over the wind and the sound of the motorcycle, asking where she was taking them, until they'd made one turn and then she'd known. At least she hadn't taken them to their mother's house. When the motorcycle had pulled up outside their apartment building, Alexandra had turned to her sister, finding her silent but already moving to go inside.

They climbed up to their apartment, giving little mind to their respective suits. Once they were through the door, Alexandra turned back to look at her sister. Kara had gone to stand at the window, looking out over the city, her arms crossed before herself.

"What was that back there?" Alexandra asked, evenly, not angry, just… confused. Kara didn't reply. "You could have hurt her, killed her. You could have cracked the grenade." Kara still didn't speak, but she was shaking her head, just slightly. "What's that? Talk to me, come on…"

"I did exactly what I had to do," Kara spoke low.

"How's that?" Alexandra asked, and finally her sister turned to face her. She couldn't say whether Kara was about to shout or cry.

"I know this is still new to you, but it's not to me, and my aim is _very_ good. You don't even know what she was doing. She was reaching for the grenade. So I stopped her."

Alexandra stared back and closed her eyes after a moment, feeling immediately like she'd overreacted. More than that, she'd hurt her sister.

"Kara…" she breathed, opening her eyes again. "I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"This is why I didn't want to tell you," Kara shook her head, still caught between two feelings. Alexandra wanted to say something, but she saw her little sister standing there, and she could just see… she was about to crack, and maybe that was what needed to happen… the flood had to wash in. "You know, I chose to come back here. When I knew there was a way, I came back. You have no idea… _no_ idea what it was like. Someone tells you 'this is where you belong,' but you feel _nothing_.

"I woke up in Stein Labs that day, when I was fourteen, and I was weak, I was in pain, but there were these two people looking down at me and I felt safe. I didn't understand yet what had happened to me. They asked my name and all I could tell them was the one thing I still had. Kara… That was all I had. I was empty, and I wasn't supposed to be, and that was terrifying. I would spend so much time just sitting and closing my eyes, squeezing them tight, tight, tight, begging for something to come back to me. But it never did. I was someone, once, and then I was hurt, and I was no one. I didn't want to be no one, I wanted to be… me… but I didn't know who that was."

Those memories, those moments of overwhelming anxiety, they were washing through her mind now, and they made it hard to breathe.

"Then two years later I got my cry. Right when I thought I was finding my way, that I'd made a life for myself being Kara Zeta and I knew where I belonged in the world, I was someone else, something else. But that could be alright, I could use this thing and help people. They needed it… oh, they needed it in War. And _then_ I find out it didn't just happen that I had these powers, that I wasn't _from_ War, that ending up there changed me, and then everything they did to save me…"

She had to breathe. She pressed her hands to her temples for a moment. All that fear, all that confusion, that… loss.

"For a long time after that I was lost, I… I didn't belong anywhere. I'd come from somewhere else, wherever that was, but I didn't even know how _that_ happened. All I knew was that I had no idea who I was, who I'd been, or who I was supposed to be, and I just wanted to… scream… So I became Black Siren, and when I was out there nothing else mattered, it didn't have to. And I was good. And I _felt_ good. Nothing had felt so much like it was mine… for as long as I could remember."

It was strange to say it like that, but it was true.

"Then I heard about Seeker. I met her, I told her my story. And she found Kara Danvers, missing girl from Haven. She could take me there. She could take me home, back to where I'd been someone, where I'd had a place. And I never even really had to think about it. I came back, because I figured that was what I was supposed to do, and maybe deep down there was still a part of me that needed to know who I'd been. Except…"

She paused here, like she'd been running closer and closer to the edge of a cliff, and now she was there, where she had sworn never to go. But she'd run too fast, too long, and there was no stopping anymore.

"As soon as Seeker was gone, I wanted to go back," she cried. "I couldn't be here, I couldn't be… her… It took too long for me to find who I was able to be, I couldn't do it again. I wasn't _her_ anymore, but you… and Mom… She was who you needed me to be. I could see it, I… I can still see it. You didn't need Black Siren, Kara Zeta. You needed a little girl who died the moment she slipped out of my head."

Silence hung heavy between them then, as Alexandra processed all she'd heard, but also as Kara heard herself say the words and came to realize one thing she had never let herself think, or never let herself accept.

"Who I became was the only thing that really felt mine, and if I tried to become _her_ again, and I failed… then I'd have given myself up for nothing. But I… I _did_ want to be her, your sister, the one you'd lost, I just… I couldn't. I couldn't let her in. Sometimes though, I feel things, I feel like there's something there I'm supposed to know. I don't actually remember what happened, just how I felt," she pressed a hand to her heart. "I felt it today, at city hall, and I don't know why."

"It was a field trip," Alexandra spoke, the first she'd spoken since Kara had started, and her sister stared at her, blinking. "You got lost. You sat, and you waited, because that's what Dad told you to do. And then I came to find you. You were just sitting there, staring at a painting on the wall. You weren't even scared." Kara stared off into nowhere, like she was trying to combine the feeling and the story. "You could have asked me. I would have told you." Her voice stayed quiet, understanding, because she did understand… a lot of things she hadn't really been able to until now. There was so much she was hearing about for the first time. She wanted to embrace her sister then, but she waited. This wasn't the moment.

"Those first weeks after I came back, after you found me and brought me home to Mom, the two of you would just watch me, like you couldn't get over the fact that I was there. I understood it, I did. But you both would look at me like you were waiting for _her_. You'd watch me like at any second there'd be some click in my head and it would all come back to me. Anytime I said or did something that made you think I remembered something, you just dropped the façade. You wanted me to be her. You still do. At the Zeta house, when you saw that drawing…"

"I know…" Alexandra admitted. "But it's hard not to, I… I lost myself when you were gone, too, you know? I left home, I left our mother, who was grieving for her husband and her little girl because I couldn't be that Alexandra anymore. "We all died a little that day. But the day you came back… Kara, we were all trying to get back something we'd lost… all of us.

"Maybe we didn't do as well as we meant to, but how could we? Your being alive was a miracle we couldn't have dreamed of. You are not your memories, and you don't have to be. You're my sister, Kara Danvers, Kara Zeta, Black Siren… I'll take them all, because they're all you."

That was the moment for the embrace. She knew, because Kara was the one to step toward her and pull her close. Alexandra held on to her now, the two of them feeling like they were breathing a breath that they'd needed to breathe for so long.

"If you need to go back to War, I'll understand," Alexandra whispered. Kara pulled back to look at her. "I saw how you were out there. It was your life. Laura, Carter and Evelyn, the Trades… I'd never seen you like that since you came to Haven. If that's where you need to be, that's where you should be."

"Maybe now that I've gone back once I can go back from time to time, but I couldn't just leave you, or Mom…" Kara shook her head. "Especially not now that I actually have a shot at making it work," she added, bowing her head with a small smile that showed how much she was getting to see she felt better for the burden she'd allowed to lift away. "We… we should probably get to the outpost. They might think we were kidnapped on the way there."

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

As M'gann and Slade walked toward the base's gates, with Nyssa, Patty, and Rory trailing behind them, it was hard not to wonder just what they'd be walking into. Slade, as the sole War-born member of this particular group, had pointed out just how unprecedented this was, and that could be anything from the most unexpected turn for the better… or it could very rapidly slide exactly into the all-out clash the attacks had been meant to create.

"Just don't let your guard down. Not once."

Once they were admitted on to the base and to the hall where the resistance and the enemy agents had come to gather, it wasn't long that the five of them saw they weren't the only ones to follow that advice. Those two sides had lived their entire lives in a world divided, raised by parents who'd lived with that divide for all _their_ lives before that. Surely it had to have started somewhere, but did they wonder? Did they ask? No. There was one side, and there was the other, and if you didn't want to go either way, well it was a Tradesman's life for you. But for the most part it was one or the other, and it dictated the rest of your life.

But the WQI had been hit. The prison had been hit. One of the schools… It didn't matter what side you were on, you did _not_ touch those places, and the thought that anyone would, well that was enough to send them to battle. The General had been able to show her counterpart and his agents some strong proof that this was neither of them's act, and that they needed to sit in this hall and do something about it… together.

"We've called you here," the General told the five of them, "So that you will tell ARGUS that, however we choose to respond to this situation, they will not interfere. This is our fight." The Enemy's General gave a heavy nod of agreement at this, no matter how much it still pained him to have to agree with the resistance about anything.

"Yes, it is," Slade agreed as well, and it was no secret who he was and where he'd come from; his word was respected for it. "And as for us?"

"You will keep us informed of any information you come upon, to aid us in this fight," said the Enemy's General, his entire demeanor and tone so indicative of the enemy aligned's entire viewpoint that, had he been less in control of his emotions, Slade might have gotten them in trouble. As it was, they thanked the two generals for seeing them and exited once again.

"That went well…" M'gann sighed as they returned toward Stein Labs.

"Would have gone worse if I'd gone alone," Slade told her, and it was anyone's guess whether he meant they might have attacked him… or he might have attacked them.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**

 **ARGUS OUTPOST**

There had been some debate as to who would actually perform the interrogation. ARGUS wanted in on it. The police wanted in on it. Ralph had suggested it might be best if they went somewhere down the middle on this, though neither side would have a civilian go in. The compromise had been one of their resistance soldiers. They had three of those. Maybe trusting that, woman to woman, their suspect might open up better, they had chosen Gideon. That neither the agents nor detectives here knew what her transformation into Hawkgirl had done to her was never seen as something in need of being shared.

So there they now sat, Gideon on one side of the table, and the would-be launcher on the other. For ten minutes, neither of them spoke. Gideon observed the young woman. The young woman stared at the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the table, her hands… anywhere but at Gideon. Finally, Gideon had broken the silence.

"What's your name?" she asked. "I'm Gideon." Nothing. "Are you from this city, or have you come from a different quarter? Unless you're from Main?" Again, nothing. "Who gave you the grenade? Who told you what to do with it?" The young woman started digging at dirt under her fingernails. It didn't take intensive training as an interrogator for her to know she'd have to try something else to get her talking… just like she didn't have to be able to see the people watching them from outside the room to know they would lose their patience with her before long. So she chose a new tactic.

They were in a small room, the two of them. So when Gideon's wings sprouted from her back, they spread across the entire width of the room and very nearly curved at the ends.

The young woman startled so strongly that her chair scraped against the floor and hit the back wall, eyes gone wide. For once she _did_ look at Gideon… with awe.

"You're her… You're Hawkgirl," she breathed. Gideon smiled.

"I am. But you can call me Gideon. And you are?" The young woman opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it again. She shook her head. "You might as well tell it to me. Please don't see it as a threat, more of advice, but if you don't tell me now, others might try and get it from you in a way you won't like."

"No name," she insisted, holding to her choice.

"As you wish. Jane Doe it is. Are you from War like me, Jane?"

She didn't want to say it, but she almost didn't have to. She kept looking at the wings like they were familiar to her, and even though Gideon had not set foot in the city itself since she'd escaped aboard the Waverider a few years past, and even though she would have been seen flying across many a quarter's sky, there was something unmistakable when coming face to face with someone from your own quarter… especially when it was one like War.

"Who recruited you, Jane?" Gideon asked, leaning into their shared origins. "Who brought you to Haven?"

"I don't know," she answered.

"Why did you agree to it?" Gideon asked. 'Jane' stared at her, willing herself into silence but giving herself away all the same. "They said you could stay here if you did it, didn't they? Or was it another place they promised you?"

"I didn't actually do anything," 'Jane' told her. "You can't keep me here for something I didn't do. I… I changed my mind, that's why I left," she told Gideon, but it was no use.

"My instincts are better than that. You left because you were caught. And you can drop the wide-eyed wonderment, too." 'Jane' stared at her for a moment. She smiled. "What's your name?" Gideon asked again. Nothing. "Who recruited you? Who brought you to Haven?" she repeated her questions.

"Your instincts aren't that great," 'Jane' whispered, as _her_ wings emerged from her back. "But it was nice waiting this out with you. See you around."

Before Gideon could stop her, the girl had leapt on to the table, then through the one-way mirror. As the glass crashed around those who'd barely managed to move away, she dashed away. Standing in complete shock in the interrogation room, Gideon found Rip's eyes as he stood up again.

Now they knew… The girl was Project Horus. And if that was the case, then the odds were all too slim that they weren't involved, which meant that even if the General and most of the resistance army weren't aware, the attacks _had_ come from inside the resistance. And if the enemy aligned learned it… their tenuous alliance would break in a snap.

And if that wasn't enough, what had she meant by 'waiting this out'? Waiting what out?

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	34. DAY 067 (vol 1, ch 34)

_Day 67 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 34_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **STEIN LABS**

Looking at the size of the place, it would be easy to assume Martin Stein would have been at once used to having many people surrounding him and at ease with their presence. Except he wasn't. The situation required it, and he was not so far removed as to push them back in any way. But every so often he needed to remove himself for a few minutes, to allow his mind to relax, and breathe, to settle in the silence of a moment's solitude.

He didn't seek complete isolation. Years ago, he'd taken on Eliot and Laura Zeta as his colleagues, because he knew all too well that he couldn't simply go at it alone. Most people didn't understand what he did in there, but Eliot and Laura had understood. They had been more than aware of the situation in their city, in their world, and while they didn't see themselves in any way able to put a stop to what was happening, they did feel they had it in them to provide some form of protection for their people.

They provided what they could – supplies were not always there, and much as they wished they could hand everything out free of charge, it was simply impossible, though they charged as little as they reasonably could – all with the aim of giving what protection there could be. It might have made them easy targets, and yet there they still stood. Most of them… They'd lost Eliot along the way, and his Clarissa before that… And there was Kara… and… and Lily.

"That look on your face… I'd recognize it anywhere… All that disappointment."

He didn't startle, didn't even turn right away. Deep down, he had been waiting for this. When he finally turned his chair around, inside the area of the labs he called home, Lily sat on top of a cabinet, looking down at him. Behind the cabinet were a number of glass-fronted displays, no doubt the means of her entry.

"Not disappointment… not toward you," he spoke evenly, briefly bowing his head before looking back to her. "What are you doing, Lily? Those people you've taken…"

"Unharmed… mostly," she shrugged, and he had to let out a breath, thankful for this much at least. "Some of them are getting close to asking for it though, if you ask me."

"Stop it," he stared up at her. He wished very much they were in another quarter, anywhere, that he might have been able to rise from this chair and approach her. "This isn't…"

"… how you raised me?" she guessed at the end of his sentence. "I don't know, isn't it? Doctor Martin Stein, cooped up inside this place day and night, far from the War's touch, detached from the city he claims to help. Doing what must be done, by any means necessary, but in the end… it all comes down to you, just doing what you want. Don't sell yourself short, Dad, I happen to like who I am very much."

She would drop in on him like this, every so often. She could always find him on his own, could always find some way to sneak in through her abilities. There might have been some way or another for him to stop her getting in, but he never tried to come up with it. He couldn't shut her out.

He looked at her, every time, even now, and he remembered the way it used to be. Her mother had been lost so long ago, and it had been just the two of them for years before the Zetas had been hired on. He had looked after his girl, the best that he could. He would see her running through the halls, laughing, whenever he'd be out there. He would remember how happy and curious and alive she'd always been.

And he remembered the day of the accident, the day her transformation had begun. Neither of them had realized what had started in her, not right away. But then the ability had started to build in her, and it was unstable. He'd come so close to losing her at one time, and he couldn't… he couldn't just let her die, he had to… _by any means necessary_. Just like she'd said. He knew the thing that was killing her was the instability in her power. So he had stabilized it. And for that he had started to lose her.

"Who do you work for?" he asked, and she laughed. Did she know how much _that_ alone pained him the most? To hear the shift in her laughter, to hear in it how much the person she had been in the past was so changed, so far from the girl he'd raised?

"You might find out, in time, but you won't hear it from me."

"Then why are you here?" he stared up at her, trying to look more detached than he felt.

"Can't a girl just visit her dear old dad?" Lily gave him a shrug. "You're not going to tell them I was here, are you?" It wasn't a question, not really. She already knew the answer. "I should go check in on my partners. I left them in there somewhere," she nodded back to the glass surface. "They tend to wander off like children." He watched as she slipped back inside the reflection of the cabinet doors. "Rest up, Dad. You might need it."

And she was gone. Martin looked at the glass for some time before lowering his head, closing his eyes. All around his lodgings, there were mirrors, there were glass panels… there were means for his daughter to come through, to visit him… He couldn't just cut her away, no matter what.

X

Lily had not been entirely truthful in saying she'd left her partners in a surface somewhere. She _had_ left Lyra in a good vantage point somewhere, to look in on what everyone was up to, but Jesse had insisted on finding her own way inside. Her abilities were not limited to being able to shock people, although she did enjoy doing this a lot. She could infiltrate circuits, become living electricity… She could appear on a screen, if she so chose…

Harrison Wells had been doing his part in assisting the effort to put a stop to the Mist weapon's spread, and even as Doctor Stein had retreated for a few minutes, he'd been at a station on his own, his thoughts equally focused and divided, it felt. Maybe for that, he'd initially believed he was hallucinating when he saw his daughter's face on the screen in front of him. But he looked at it again, and he could barely keep from telegraphing to the others what he was seeing.

There was his daughter, in full Livewire glory, waving at him. He didn't know what she was doing here, what she was trying to accomplish, but if they saw her… No matter what, he couldn't just…

He tried changing the screen, turning it off… but she would still be there, shaking her head at him for the attempt. She pressed a finger to her lips. _Quiet._ Then the screen's image changed to show another area of the labs, as though through a security feed. Livewire reappeared and pointed. _Come._ Then she was gone.

He didn't know what to do. He wasn't going to tell anyone, that was for sure, but at the same time… If he went there, would he become the seventh on the list of those who had been taken, by her and her cohorts, by those men back on Main Earth? Would she do that to him? Maybe that was all a test. If he went without telling, or if he warned the others…

"I'll be back in a moment," he told Laura Zeta, working across from him, before moving out of the hub. He was still new to this place, but he had a good enough idea of his surroundings to get to where his daughter wanted him to go.

When he arrived, the hallway was as empty as it had been on the image she had shown him. He looked around, overly aware of where she might appear from. _Was_ she here to take him?

Finally she came, a bright flash and she materialized before him, crackling with electricity. He stared at her, and he didn't know why he needed to do it, but he responded to this by shifting his appearance back to his own true face, not the face of the man whose name and life he had taken over, but of the father who'd sailed off with his ailing daughter, seeking a cure for the illness that threatened her life.

Jesse observed this and, much as she tried not to show it, he had thrown her off guard. It wasn't hard to think that, once she'd found out the role the real Harrison Wells had played in her transformation, the sight of her father wearing his image might have a different effect on her, just as seeing his true face might do the same.

"Well played," she had spoken now, her own image shifting, although even in her true form, she maintained aspects of Livewire in her. "What a surprise it was to find you here of all places," she went on, maybe in an attempt to regain her control over the situation; it wasn't working so well.

"You mean assisting your new friend's father?" he asked. He was hardly unaffected here. She had so much of her mother in her, it was easy to forget when she spent so much of her life in the image they had crafted for the human face of Jesse Wells. She would have known this, of course, in an attempt to knock him down as much as he'd knocked _her_ down.

"Friend might be a complicated word in this case."

"How many more people do you three intend to hurt the way you've done the others?" She stared at him, amusement creeping back over her face. "There is nothing funny about this," he tried to raise his voice to her, but he couldn't, not without drawing attention to the two of them…

"Sure, if you know which way to look at it," she smirked.

He became Harrison Wells again. Whatever they had been to one another, whether or not they would ever get to be that to each other again, in this moment he knew he couldn't be that for her. She hadn't earned it.

Seeing the other face again, she'd glared, shifting back to Jesse, to Livewire.

"Stay in War," she told him now, and he hesitated. Something was different in her voice now. If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought she was scared, that she was warning him. Or maybe she was… He opened his mouth to say something, but she started to crackle again, and then she was gone, back into the current, the power inside Stein Labs, and he was alone in the hall again.

He had to consider what his next step would be now. She had come to him, and he hadn't told anyone. She had come, and he had let her go, when she could have been their gateway back to their kidnapped loved ones. But… _Stay in War._ Three words, but they were loaded.

If he looked at the entire picture of this situation… it suggested that there would be nothing happening here again, nothing that would put him in danger. And she'd singled out War. She hadn't said 'stay out of Haven,' where the new attack had happened. So did it mean she knew only of War's safety? Was another quarter about to be hit? She hadn't named any one in particular, either because she didn't want him to stop what was about to happen, or she just didn't know where the next attacks would go… She'd dropped this information in his hands, and now… he didn't know what he was he supposed to do with it.

X

It wasn't specifically the first time Lyra had experienced Lily's powers firsthand, but where previous excursions through mirrors and other reflective surfaces had been brief, means to an end sort of travel, she now found herself sitting on her own in this strange place… She had to stop and tell herself that she _wasn't_ about to be forgotten or left here permanently, that Lily would return and collect her after she and Jesse were done with their daddy issues.

Lyra supposed it wasn't so bad, spying quietly from as small of a corner in a glass pane as she could make herself go. Everyone seemed so concentrated on what they were doing that she wasn't even sure they would have noticed her standing right in view and waving her arms around. A few of them were working over consoles and objects laid before them. Others stood as though they were just waiting to be able to do something. From what they'd seen earlier, and assuming that by now several of them would be in Haven, there were still some others missing, making her wonder where they'd gotten off to.

Still on the premises and something of a taste from home was the tall dark skinned man she knew to actually be a tall green skinned alien. She'd been aware of him, back when she'd still been living in Dark, before she'd found her ticket out of that sunless place. Back there, even though there would be those who would look on to him, hiding out in his cave, as something to shun, but many more would have looked to him and recognized someone just… impressive.

They had met, once, though she didn't know that he would remember. She'd still been a child at the time, all of twelve. Her powers had only just started to come by her, and she'd been frightened that anyone should find out about them, knowing how some others were treated once any sort of power was discovered in them. She'd tried to run, to hide who she was. And she had met the strange man. She had left the encounter feeling more confident about who and what she was than she could ever be. Would he be glad of the advice even now?

Then there was the girl. Lyra could see her, lying down/sitting up on a bed, evidently still recovering from her encounter with Lyra and her team but also visibly upset. Lyra imagined she would feel much the same if she had anyone in her life worth losing… Deep down, she probably did feel bad for her… somewhere… not that she'd ever say it.

But she did feel something for the girl, the more she looked at her, the more she considered her situation. Lyra Star had not lived her life in a city caught in a constant state of war, no, but she _had_ grown in one where her abilities, as formidable as they were, cast her in the role of the unnatural, of the unwanted. If it wasn't for the boost of confidence she'd gotten as a young girl, she might not have known how to gather up her strength and fight against the destiny tightening around her.

The night she'd figured out how to use her power to help her escape was also the night where she was to be put to death.

It was nothing so public, but then her mother and father had locked her away, and trapped as she'd been she'd heard them talking. They were going to kill her. They preferred a dead daughter to a freak. How could anyone blame her for being a little angry at the world to this day?

She'd experimented plenty with her abilities before anyone had really become aware of them, but even so, she hadn't known about everything she could do. She realized that when, in some attempt to break from the cellar where she'd been thrown, she had just… let go. She had willed her powers to twist everything as far as it might go, hoping maybe it would reach them… kill them maybe. She didn't owe them anything anymore, did she?

Maybe it had worked, because the next thing she knew the door had been wrenched open, her father looking as though he was fighting against this great debilitating effect to get to her, to finally put her down. But as he'd done this, she'd seen something, in the distance… a light… This was no star, no fire, it was… it was… She didn't know what it was but it called to her. Later she would come to understand that, in bending the world to her will, she could just about see the cracks between quarters. That was what she'd seen… that was what she'd run to.

She didn't remember that run, only falling over on the other side, wiped out of energy. She'd looked up to the sky then… It was early sunrise, the sky not so bright as to harm her, but enough to let her know she was somewhere else, somewhere new… she was free. She cried, she smiled, she laughed… She was seventeen, and she was free.

Lyra looked to the girl in her bed. She only had to look at her face to know they shared something, the two of them. Survival… by any means… How different their lives were, the paths they'd chosen…

She felt someone take her hand and she startled, looking around to find Lily there. The Mirror Mistress signalled for her to be quiet, and then she took her away from Stein Labs, to find Jesse and carry on with their assignment.

Sitting up on her bed, Evelyn Sharp felt like her heart had been going at a run for a moment. She could have sworn she saw one of them, those girls, the ones who'd taken Carter… right there in the glass. Was she losing her mind now, hallucinating things? She set her head back down, closing her eyes and taking a breath.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	35. DAY 069 (vol 1, ch 35)

_Day 69 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 35_

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

It would have been well in their right to stay on Main. The people they had been brought to, after leaving the theater, were of the other Earth like them, of different quarters, but still from another place than this one, and for that they understood the dilemma. As much as this place was strange and sort of wonderful, after a brief time with fellow breachers, it had soon become clear that maybe they needed to really think about their options. Communication had required use of the written word, but in this the man and his daughters had been given insight into the stories of these other breachers, what had brought them to the other Earth, and what kept them from returning to the homes they had left.

And the fact was… _they_ had not left a world they could not return to. As dangerous as the whole thing could have been, the only reason the man had agreed to jump on to Main, bringing his girls with him, was… curiosity. He was aware of the peculiarity of their own quarter, compared to the rest, and so of the other quarters' peculiarity compared to his own. The sound…

He had never known what it really meant, no matter how much the ARGUS agents posted in his quarter would try and explain it to him. His entire life, like his girls' had been spent in this perfectly natural state of silence, and that was fine. But now here they were, with an opportunity to at least experience another reality… How could he pass it up? How could he deprive his girls of that chance?

But now that they _had_ experienced it, would they abandon their home, their entire lives, for the sake of this difference? No… Their lives were good, and now that they had done what they had done, which was very little compared to what he'd been made to understand he _should_ do, he knew it was time that they returned home. So that was what they did.

At the time, the jump ship and its crew and just about everyone involved in the defense of the city was too busy to assist in their crossing, but then the breachers they'd been taken to were able to help them find a way back, so they had gone, and now here they were, back in Silent Quarter.

After the press of the strange and overwhelming sound, to be back here… it was peaceful, reassuring. The man had looked to his daughters and he could see in their faces how they were happy to be back again, too.

From the outside looking in, people would assume the existence of people in a place without sound would be peaceful, or boring, or devoid of something that would make life better than what it was. Given just one day, maybe even just one hour, they would come to learn there was so much more than silence. What was sound to a place filled with people who did not know there was even such a thing? It wasn't as though they didn't have it and others did, or as though the reason was tied back to them.

Without intervention from agents posted at their ARGUS outpost, or from outsiders, they could go on their entire lives not knowing that there were places out there where people had sound, and even if they did… the concept was just impossible to even conceive.

Anyone visiting Silent would soon discover the methods they had developed in order to communicate with one another over time. The first and most prominent was of course the SQSL. Someone familiar with ASL would recognize the language of Silent shared enough traits to suggest it had evolved out of it, a point oft used in the debates aboard the Waverider, when theorizing the origins of Breach Earth.

Beyond this, they had the light systems. There were colors, patterns and symbols, matched to a number of situations, both casual and critical, and they would be taught and observed from their earliest years, until they were just a part of the day to day. These would be primarily seen in the bands worn around their wrists, made to flash out with one color or symbol to indicate anything from 'hey, I'm over here' to 'help me, I don't feel good,' to 'run for cover!'

Their city was no different than any other. Some people made trouble, others lived peacefully. Some had a lot, some had little. Some could be convinced to go and cause mayhem in a strange new world, others had no idea anything was happening out beyond their world, or that it might in time come to reach them.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

 **STEIN LABS**

When they heard that the Waverider had returned once again – not due to being recalled after a kidnapping this time – the gathered few inside Stein Labs didn't know what to expect. Had they come by some answers, finally? Was this good news? Was it very bad?

They had come in, Ralph, the Hawks, the Danvers sisters, Firestorm and the rest, each one looking just a bit somber and conflicted. Already it set the mood in the room as a warning that things might be on the verge of getting much worse. The detectives had remained in Haven, along with Tommy Merlyn and his team, possibly bound for Main or staying, they couldn't say.

"Was there another attack?" Laura Zeta asked. She couldn't help but notice something in Kara's face, like something had happened to her while she was out there, but there was no time to stop and inquire

"Almost," Ralph answered, as Rip set down a metal box before Laura, Doctor Stein, and Harrison. When he opened it, they discovered the grenade they had gotten hold of, intact and very carefully nestled to prevent it from cracking and spilling its contents. The potential it carried was not taken lightly, and the box was passed along with great caution and care. "How are things down at the base?" he asked without detailing how they'd managed to get their hands on the grenade.

"Civil," Slade replied. Since they'd returned to Stein Labs, he hadn't been able to shake the feeling that this wouldn't hold, that, as unexpected as this joining of forces was to all involved, the break would bring one of the most brutal encounters between the resistance and the enemy aligned forces. "ARGUS has been… encouraged to stay out of it. _We_ might be called in for assistance, but only if they decide they need us. I doubt that will be the case. They want to handle things on their own, and on that at least I can sympathize." The other War Riders, other War natives, understood it as well.

There was a pause, as those who'd been in Haven appeared to share a look, wondering how to proceed. This wasn't going to be good.

"Thanks to the proximity detection you provided us, we were able to prevent an attack on Haven's city hall. We retrieved the grenade," Gideon spoke up, indicating the box. "And we apprehended the young woman who was to launch it into the building." She paused, like her mind had gone back somewhere uncomfortable. "I could sense something was… disingenuous about her, and I thought it was only that she wanted us to believe she had no clue what she'd involved herself in, which she did."

"What was it then?" Seeker had been the one to ask it, when the pause stretched on past patience. Gideon had reached inside her sleeve and pulled out something she laid on top of the console in front of her. Everyone looked down to discover it was a feather.

"I'm guessing this one didn't come from one of your wings, did it?" Evelyn asked, and they looked back to find she had moved from her bed to join them.

"Project Horus," Slade said it, the tone in his voice showing a rise of understanding, as much as he wished he didn't.

"We have no way of knowing if she is the only of her kind involved in this or if there are more Project soldiers along with her… or if the General is aware. But she _is_ part of Horus, and we have no choice but to follow that lead. And as soon as we do we then run the risk of the enemy aligned finding out," Ralph went on.

"The cease fire will break, the city will get torn apart," Kara spoke quietly, looking to Laura.

"We can find a way, they don't have to know," M'gann declared.

"The girl escaped," Rip told her. "No doubt she'll have gone back to her people. And if their entire goal was to bring chaos to the city with their attacks, then what's to stop them from making absolutely certain that the enemy aligned forces find out this all came from within the resistance army all along?"

"I believe that would be us," J'onn turned to him, and at his side M'gann had to smile. He had been so hesitant to involve himself when she'd first known him, but now here he was, showing his progress.

"There's another problem," Gideon resumed her tale. "There's reason to believe the entire attack on city hall may have been meant to keep us occupied."

"As opposed to everything that's been happening over the last four days?" Seeker frowned. "What is it this time?"

X

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**

They had told Slade that Project Mercury had produced no other soldiers like him, and that much was true. They had not managed to imbue any one soldier with the stable speed he had gained purely by accident. But that did not mean they had nothing, only soldiers who eventually burned out and withered away. Still, there they were, their short-fused speedsters. They only had three at the moment, and one of them was on his last miles.

Of Project Horus they only had two, sisters, though they had more than carried their weight. And then there were the other projects. Titan had only the one to give, though his strength made him as good as having five of anything, and Neptune had given two of its gilled soldiers, while Svarog had submitted three of its fire wielders, those who could actually contain and sustain their flames.

Following the instructions they had received, all but the Horus sister who was to draw the attention of those in Haven had been directed to cross into Silent. They had prepared for this. They had been taught SQSL in the past few months and had become as smoothly adept as they would need to be. Still, it did not prepare them for the overwhelming press of silence. For having spent their entire lives in the cacophony of War, this was simply inexplicable for them. How could anything be so quiet?

There was no time to gawk. There was plenty for them to do, and while there was little chance of anyone knowing where they had gone the Titan and his team could not take for granted the assumption that no one would track them down. So they got to work.

Most times, being quiet was half the job, but in a city full of what might have been the most observant people… that just wouldn't be enough. They had to be as insignificant as possible, had to appear as though they belonged in this city, as though the absence of sound and of their own voices didn't throw them off at all. They'd been prepared for _that_ , or at least they'd believed as much, until they arrived here.

"You have your tasks," the Titan addressed the nine stood before him, his hands maintaining something of his character, the sharp, heavy blows his strength allowed him to give now translated in the way his signs were perceived by the unit gathered here with him. "You will signal me when you are in position and you're ready for phase two. Understood?"

They understood, and so they separated, each one of them with a task of their own. Their missing hawk, if she did everything she was supposed to do, would join them here as soon as she could. By that time, they should have already been in position.

Across the city, the people remained for the most part unaware of what was happening outside their quarter. There were those few who did know. Some had been approached to cross on to Main, much as the man who'd gone with his daughters had been, and had declined the offer for any number of reasons, whether it had anything to do with this suggestion of 'sound,' whatever that was, or not. Some had been aware of family members, or friends, who _had_ gone. One scientist and his team knew, following Seeker's visit and the reception of one of her packs. The ARGUS outpost's agents had been aware, had been dreading any chance of a repeat of what had happened in Haven after War.

Even so, they did not discover what was happening as the Titan's unit moved along the city, not until the three short-fused speedsters of Mercury, the sister of Horus, the gilled duo of Neptune, and the fire wielding trio of Svarog had all checked in to confirm they were ready and in position. When this had happened, the Titan had triggered a signal across the city, as all the lights, on wrists and on posts and panels began to flash an alternating sequence of red and black.

All across the city, everyone would in one way or another be made aware of a written message, dispatched along with the signal, informing them that it would be in their best interest to stay exactly where they were and do as they were told. If any of them disobeyed, there would be consequences.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

 **STEIN LABS**

Overall it seemed to be that most of them trusted in the possibility that the General had no idea what was happening with the project soldiers, if indeed the girl from Horus was the only one out of the resistance's projects, which they also collectively doubted. On the off chance that she had been fooling them this entire time, still, they couldn't take any chances. So they had to form a plan to decide how they would address this development they'd discovered. They had to learn the truth, once and for all, and they had to find out what was happening in the special projects… all the while preventing an all-out conflict with the enemy aligned forces.

They had been at this for over an hour when the message came through from Winn, who had remained on the Waverider.

"Has there been another attack?" Ralph asked him immediately, seeing the look on his face.

"No… not yet," Winn told him, letting out a sigh before sending them the message which had now reportedly made the rounds of the various ARGUS outposts and headquarters along with them.

An unidentified group had just taken Silent Quarter.

They _did_ however identify themselves as having been behind attacks in both War and Haven Quarters. _Count your dead_ , it said. _Now, count the Silent._ They had more grenades at the ready, and they would deploy them, in various points across the city, in open air, if anyone gave them reason to do it. They could wipe out the entire city.

The group crowded in the middle of Stein Labs had been feeling each of those blows, each hit in War, the one in Haven… It never got any easier, each one took them like a boulder to the gut, and this was no exception. There had been no attack, not yet, but there could be… It could be the biggest hit yet, and if they couldn't stop this one… _Count your dead…_ They _had_ seen them, had carried some of them away from where they'd fallen. They imagined an entire city now, and it filled them with dread, because they knew these people did not bluff.

"Right," Ralph spoke up, looking to those faces gathered around him. They couldn't stand there in shock forever. They had to start acting. But all around, he saw exhaustion, he saw overwhelmed faces. They needed a moment. "Everyone take ten minutes. Walk around, sit down, eat, do… whatever you need to clear your heads and pull together. Then we figure out what to do next."

The instinct was to just jump and keep going, but after a moment they saw the need, too, and little by little they dispersed out of the hub, on their own, in pairs…

"Sir…" Patty came up to Ralph.

"Ralph," he corrected, before tipping his head as though to say 'you, too.'

"I will, but I was just thinking you might want to see about pulling in as many SQSL proficient agents and allies as you can. It might take a while, so the sooner you start… If you can get in touch with someone back at headquarters, they can get to my list and send it over."

"Right… thank you," he blinked, and the liaison agent smiled and moved on to take her ten minutes. Ralph turned back to the screen where Winn's face could still be seen. "Don't know if we'll be able to pull Ava from Main, but you'll come with us out there?"

"I will," he promised. "Once we know who's going out there, send them to me, I'll see about giving them a crash course."

"Good," Ralph nodded to himself.

"Ten minutes," Winn told him. _You, too_.

"Ten minutes," Ralph repeated. _Right back at you._

So, for ten minutes, the Waverider team took the time to pull themselves together before moving forward. There was a feeling among them like, once they leapt in again, there'd be little to no chance of stopping until… hopefully… it was all over.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	36. DAY 071 (vol 1, ch 36)

_Day 71 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 36_

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

They had looked to Project Titan as the great tipping of the scales in this never ending war of theirs. Soldiers made near indestructible, with the strength of many… How could it go wrong? As it turned out, many ways. They had lost a lot of good men and women in the initial trials, enough that they had come within a hair's breadth of being shut down. But then they had succeeded, with him. The very first of their successes, and for that he wasn't just _a_ Titan, he was _the_ Titan.

They had turned the tide with him, or they thought they had. Even with him as a template it was soon made clear that it wasn't simply a matter of cutting and pasting. There were more deaths, and the ones who survived hardly measured up to him. Some would suspect he had something to do with it, because he wouldn't stand having anyone become better than him. Whether or not that was true, they had at present time five more like him, back in War.

But he had been the one selected, not only to undertake this mission but to lead his fellow soldiers, and he saw this as his right finally given him. Back in War, as impressive as his and his brothers and sisters of the special projects could be, the resistance army, the General, would never use them as anything more than weapons, pawns. They would never rise among the ranks. All that was about to change.

Looking out over the city, in the overwhelming lack of sound, the Titan felt at last as though he had come to be exactly where he was meant to be, exactly _who_ he was meant to be. Waiting to see how they would attempt to stop him was possibly the most thrilling time in his life to this point.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

 **STEIN LABS**

There were very few places within Stein Labs where one could stand and look to the city beyond. Actually, there was only the one, and this only because the design of the building shielded it from view. You had to know it was there to look for it. Doctor Stein never went there because of his chair, but he had shared its location with some of the others there that day. It was where Detective Raatko had ended up, and before long she had been joined by Mike 'The Atom' Matthews, and then the two agents out of ARGUS, Patty and Rene.

It was hardly a sight anyone would want to take in, the scope of the city in War, and one would really need to see the world beyond the labs' walls to make the trek up here. For a while it seemed like all of them would spend their ten minutes of 'head clearing' in silence, looking down to the city. But then after three of those minutes had been spent in silence, listening to the muffled sounds from outside, they all looked like they couldn't carry on this way… Someone had to say something.

"I don't know if it's because we're on our way to Silent Quarter but I really feel like yelling right now," Mike declared, and the others looked ready to take him up on it, breathing out the anxiety boiling inside them.

None of them had set foot on Breach Earth until a few days ago. They'd all had some exposure to it, either as agents of ARGUS, or as police and hero to the city so often visited by these breachers. Each of them could say they stood among those who didn't just see a breacher and see an invader. They interacted with some of them, knew they might only have crossed to escape a bad situation… Who could say they would never have to make that choice?

And now Silent Quarter was thrown in the crosshairs… What would happen if they failed them?

X

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**

It wasn't that they could not exist outside of water anymore, but the changes to their bodies after going through Project Neptune had been such that they just could not be entirely at ease on dry land. Sometimes it got to be so bad that they could no longer breathe. It was all in their heads, and they could actually breathe just fine, but they would not believe it. Some of the past soldiers from the project had deserted, the better to find some body of water to live out the rest of their changed lives.

Since then, the soldiers had been well guarded, tracked even, making many of their two dozen soldiers feel more like animals than humans anymore. When the two of them had been recruited to this mission, there had been little in the way of hesitation. Why wouldn't they want to go off and do something more?

They had been labelled Triton and Nymph, back in Project Neptune. Whatever had brought them to the resistance army in the beginning, once they had been taken through the doors of the special projects' wing, it felt less and less like they were soldiers and more like they were creatures, so maybe for that these code names had gotten to feel like they were who they had become.

Between the two of them, they did not require the SQSL. They had their own signs when underwater. Still, they wouldn't have thought the silence would press on them here, too. When they had done what they'd been set to do, they swam back to the surface and found one another, confirming they had achieved their tasks, and then they swam off in opposite directions, to signal back to the Titan that they were ready. Since then, they'd been waiting, feeling the water retreat from them even as they dried off. They closed their eyes. It was all in their heads… they could breathe just fine.

X

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

It was a little known fact, easily guarded due to the fact that he did not interact with that many people, that Martin Stein could cross breaches, in a manner not unlike the one Seeker used. There was one notable difference, as confusing as it might have been to some. Something changed in him, when he travelled across the quarters, or to the other Earth. _He_ changed. His personality would shift just a bit, almost acclimating itself to the other cities. The biggest change, always, was that he could walk again.

Maybe for this reason, to expel that sort of excess of nerves, he had chosen to use his ten minutes by finding his way across to Main. Laura had accompanied him, as had Harrison Wells and Catherine Grant, his colleagues of these past days. The two of them did not know about this ability of his, and when he showed them, rising from his chair, they stared at him in surprise.

They would get over it, taking in their surroundings. They were on Main. After the last few days, most of them spent either in War or Mist, being here… it was a relief, even for just a few minutes. They'd been caught up, almost the entire time, having to work constantly, trying to keep up with the developments, the Mist water, the weapon, the masks, the neutralizer… Now here they stood, with grass beneath their feet, breathing clean air… They could hear birds chirping…

By design or by accident, they spent so much time working to help the world but generally staying out of it… They could almost forget.

"Is this the place? Where Kara is from?" Laura looked around, her eyes watering. She had never left War before.

"Not exactly, although it is very similar," Harrison Wells explained.

Laura smiled to herself, but also felt just a bit of sadness. It was hard not to feel this hope that her daughter's return would signify a more permanent reunion, but now that she saw this place, she couldn't imagine ever keeping her in a place like War when she could have this…

X

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**

Recruit soldiers did not go into Project Mercury knowing what became of every last one of them. Not since the incident which granted Slade Wilson his abilities and brought about the creation of Mercury had there been a fully successful subject. Only after being put through the process, when they would move into testing and training, would they start to become mildly aware. It would come in the way they would be watched, the uncertainty, the mad drive, the cautious hope… And then they would start to feel it in their bodies: something wasn't right.

The three of them were the last ones left, bearing the Mercury markings on their uniforms. The one they called Terminal, he had been the first of them to join, and it showed in how much his speed and his body were getting to fail. Then there was Rapid. He was getting to feel those effects bringing down more and more every day. The 'youngest' of them was Constant. She had been the very last recruit to the project until then, maybe of all time… Hopefully of all time…

Using their speed, what remained to some of them, had needed to be done with caution. They could not be seen, had to act and get into position, and wait. They could just barely see one another in the distance, like a triangle. If not for their own version of the Silent Quarter's color-coded alerts, they would be unable to communicate.

The three of them could only really sympathize with one another. They each of them had a death sentence over their heads for having gone through Mercury, and no one could know the feeling it fed in their hearts. But they had been promised… When this was over, they would be looked after. There might be a way to stabilize them again, to prevent them wasting away. It could all turn out to be pointless, they knew, but at this point what did they have to lose?

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

 **STEIN LABS**

A part of them had considered following their Captain back to Main Earth, to help her after she'd come to Haven and helped them, but now more than ever Roy and Rory knew they were needed right here. So they stepped away for their ten minutes, finding a spot to sit and find some way to stop and regroup as had been recommended. It was difficult, when everything in them said to get up and go and do… something, anything, to ensure that what had happened in War and in Haven wouldn't happen to the whole of Silent.

They were not alone in this sentiment. Before long, they had crossed paths with Seeker and Jax, who'd started off together, deciding to spend their time swapping stories of their pack deliveries across the quarters. The four of them ended up sitting together. Looking from one to the other, they knew they all felt it… they needed to move. What Superman and Valor wouldn't have given to go off and fly…

When they'd actually vocalized it, there had been a moment where the other two, the breach hopper and the breach maker, had looked to one another, wondering… why not?

The next thing they knew, they were in Underground… above ground, and the two aliens were flying, Superman carrying Seeker along with him, while Valor had Jax. Overall, Seeker seemed to enjoy the experience much more than Jax did, though it couldn't be said that he disliked it either. It was a very brief moment's relief, but after everything they'd been through recently, it was exactly what they needed. No one would be there to see them, or wonder what they were doing.

And when it was over, they would cross back to War, to the labs, ready to face whatever came next, as they looked for a way to save the people of Silent.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**

They would be called the fire wielders, but they more proudly responded to the appellation of Project Svarog. Theirs was the project most successful, like an elite unit… for the enemy.

They had started out aligned to the resistance army, they had. But following the initial tests, the creation of their first Svarog soldiers, it had quickly been decided that they might be too volatile, that they would give the wrong impression. The project and all its subjects were to be terminated. One had escaped, taking herself and her modifications to the other side, to the enemy. Maybe for that, they had called her Phoenix.

She was in Silent now, with two of her kind. They were called Hearth and Sun. Hearth was still little more than a girl herself, and Sun tended to think himself in charge, but there was never any doubt _who_ was highest ranked of their three.

Being the only ones in this mission who had not come from the resistance army's projects, they could have been treated as enemies, separate from the rest of them, but that was in no way the case. All of them had taken on this mission together because they shared certain beliefs. They knew how this would all end, and they were ready for it.

Phoenix knew her fellow Svarog would have done what was required of them. They would be in position now, waiting. She looked upon the city now. It felt to her as though, if she were given the chance to stop, and lie down, and try to sleep… she couldn't do it. Growing up in War, all of them had needed to learn to deal with the constant sound. By the time they were grown, they could have found sleep in the noisiest of situations. This? It was too quiet…

They might never get to enjoy a loud night's sleep again, depending on how it all ended here.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

 **STEIN LABS**

The Danvers sisters had taken it upon themselves to help Evelyn bounce back, to the best of their abilities. They found themselves joined in this endeavor by the two halves of Firestorm. Their destination was the galley, and an improvised sort of feast, before they launched themselves into whatever Silent Quarter would take them through.

It became something of a challenge, to treat themselves but not so much that they'd make themselves sick, heading into a fight. Each of them had their idea of comfort food though, and they would share those with Evelyn, arguing in turn why theirs was The Best comfort food. It quickly grew into silliness, but then they would see the smile creeping up Evelyn's face and it would tell them they were headed down the right track. Besides, their choice was definitely the best one and they knew it.

"If we stop them," Evelyn had spoken up after a while, "It could lead us to whoever's got Carter and the others, right?" The others looked to her.

"Maybe…" Alexandra told her. She would have said 'yes, absolutely,' but did they really know that?

"Good enough for me then," Evelyn nodded, digging into more of the food gathered up before her.

"Mistral's return?" Kara gave her a smile.

"Let them try and stop me," the girl confirmed before turning to Barry and Eobard. "Does your head _have_ to be on fire when you two do that… thing?" she mimed merging. The two men looked to each other before Barry replied that no, it didn't. "Good… it'll be hard to sneak around otherwise." The sisters chuckled.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**

It was no longer the case that subjects within Project Horus suffered the overpowering connection to one another that they had seen in their initial winged soldiers. That had been weeded out of the process after they'd seen how it presented in their initial run. Despite this, there _was_ a bond between the two Horus soldiers along for the ride in this mission, one that preceded their entry in special projects or the resistance army itself. They were sisters, twins. They were not identical, but near enough to it that there'd be no mistaking their relation.

For that reason alone, the one they had called Raven stood alone and displayed evident signs of concern as she waited for her sister to return from the side task she'd been handed, back in Haven. Raven had done her part here, but it would not matter so much until Owl was back at her side.

She knew the moment her sister had crossed into Silent, and she smiled to herself. When finally she came sneaking up to join her, the two of them joined hands, shaking to one another. Good? Good. Soon their hands moved in the language they had learned together for this moment.

"How did it go?" Raven asked.

"I saw them," Owl replied. There was no need to specify who she was referring to.

For all the awe she had portrayed herself to feel upon meeting Gideon, one of the original Horus soldiers, the feeling between the sisters was about as far on the opposite of what she'd presented. Hunter and Gideon were deserters, and their flight – metaphorical and literal – had put their project to shame as much as it had subjected its soldiers to that much more scrutiny. They bore the scars to prove it… in every sense of the word.

"They'll know where I came from now," Owl told her sister, and she and Raven shared a grin.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

 **STEIN LABS**

The majority of the Waverider team presently in War found itself staying in the main hub, in essence spending their ten minutes with their teammate back on the ship, by way of the screen. Ralph, Slade, M'gann, and the Hawks sat or stood near where they could see Winn. Nearby, there was J'onn, walking quietly but staying nearby all the same. There was some feeling like maybe he wanted to stay near M'gann but knew she needed to be with her team.

Now that it was just them, it seemed Gideon and Rip and Slade and – to some extent – Ralph could finally let the revelation brought by the Horus girl really sink in. The projects. Of course it was them… When the four of them had been taken in there, they had been so preoccupied by what might happen to them, but if they stopped to think about it all again, they should have sensed something was off.

They had been part of the resistance, they knew what it was supposed to be like. And even if they had felt enough reason to leave them behind, to strike out on their own even if it meant deserting, it really hadn't been this bad, not back then. If they hadn't known the two versions of it, they might have had less doubt one way or the other whether the General was aware, but now they genuinely had no clue. On the one hand, it seemed like she would _have_ to know, but on the other… They felt they knew her well enough to say that she would never do this.

"The look in her eyes…" Gideon would speak quietly, looking up to Rip. He could only nod, he knew. As much as they could get lost into their 'hawk' state, feel an animalistic pull, it wasn't all the time. But this other girl… it felt as though she had lost so much more of her human side. What had they been creating inside that base?

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	37. DAY 073 (vol 1, ch 37)

_Day 73 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 37_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **STEIN LABS**

No one would have penalized them for taking a couple more than ten minutes before returning to start on the plan for Silent's release, but in the end it looked closer to seven, or eight, or nine minutes… They all wanted to get started as soon as possible, although they each felt that the break had indeed been necessary, and now that it was over they assembled, their heads a little clearer and maybe finding just enough ease to carry the exhaustion better.

Patty had marked her return by moving to the console that would allow her to establish contact first with Winn and then with ARGUS headquarters once he patched them through. The face she found on the other side was not one she would have known until very recently, but the liaison agent was now getting to be familiar with Iris West of Haven, and that was who greeted her, looking understandably frazzled, from what they'd been hearing about the events on Main.

"I believe you're at my desk?" Patty asked her.

"I am, yes, I hope that's alright," Iris replied.

"More than alright, especially if it will make things easier now. I need you to access my files. I have a list of SQSL proficient agents and allies in there, I need you to send it over here, and…"

"Would you like me to establish contact with them?" Iris asked, looking as though she had already reached the list and pulled it up in the seconds since she'd been told about it. "I can have them ready for crossing through headquarters as soon as you need them."

"I… Yeah, that'd be perfect, actually," Patty smiled. She had to appreciate initiative in people, and this one looked to have initiative up to her ears. "How's it going back there?" At this, Iris let out a breath, eyes widening, in what translated easily to 'oh you have no idea how much has been going on.' "That bad?"

"Well, it's just… We captured the gun guys." This got everyone's attention, several of them moving around so they could see the screen.

"You did?" Mike asked, looking to Jax at his side, the two of them thinking about Zari and Kendra, about Samantha and her leg…

"How'd you do that? Who got them?" Jax asked.

"Have they found Carter and the others?" Evelyn jumped in.

"Who are they?" Seeker added.

"Woah, hey, one at a time," Iris waved them off. "Long story short, it was sort of delicate to put that information out there earlier, but it's fine now, so here goes. We identified the two of them as Raymond Palmer and Nathaniel Heywood…"

"Heywood, as in…" Rene started, and Iris nodded.

"Turns out he's the director's grandson."

"Wait, what?" Winn interjected, listening from back on the Waverider.

"Again, long story, Director Heywood originally came from Slow Quarter, his son popped off to Haven and got married there, had a kid, who grew up to be a bit of a psycho and not that bright apparently. He and his buddy just waltzed in here a little while ago, pretending to be agents, but the director spotted them and managed to apprehend them. Now they're in a pair of holding cells, but they won't talk. We still don't know where the others are holding the people they took."

They had to stop for a moment and remind themselves that, even though it wasn't as much good news as they could have hoped, it _was_ good news. They had two of the kidnappers. They could use that, they could dig deeper and hopefully find their friends. And if they were involved in the even grander scheme of things…

"It's possible their capture might have been intentional." Doctor Stein spoke up then, his face reading just a bit grim, back from his small excursion to Main. They turned to him.

"How's that?" Ralph asked. The man in the wheelchair hesitated briefly.

"Because I was visited by my daughter a few hours ago," he revealed.

"Mirror Mistress?" Evelyn asked, looking at once angered as she thought of the one who'd taken Carter. "She was here… I knew it…"

"Knew how?" Kara wondered.

"Before, I saw… I thought I was hallucinating, but I saw the other one, the blonde… right in there," she pointed to the glass pane. "But if _she_ was there," she gestured toward Stein, "Then maybe the other one was, too, and…" She turned to Wells, who had not spoken, finding on his face everything she needed to confirm that Livewire had been here, too.

"They were here, all three of them," Laura Zeta let out a breath, stunned. Around the room, there were some eyes turned to Stein and Wells, no doubt wondering why they hadn't said something before now, hadn't ensured the trio's capture. She wasn't one of them, not at all, because like those who _didn't_ stare questions at the two men, she understood all too well the dilemma they'd been forced to handle, faced with their daughters and the thought of any harm coming to them. They'd let them walk away and kept their mouths shut… until they couldn't.

"What did they tell you?" Ralph looked to the two men.

"Very little," Doctor Stein confessed. "Only that the people they took were not harmed. I tried… to ask her about who she worked for, but she wouldn't say.

"You let her get away," Evelyn pointed out. "We might have gotten more out of her."

"She knew exactly when and how to approach me so that there wouldn't _be_ time to catch her," Stein insisted. Whether or not he would have enabled her escape if things had gone down any differently, he couldn't say, and he hoped never to have to find out.

"What about you?" Ralph turned to Wells. "What did yours say?" Harrison looked up at him, fixing him with a quiet stare for a moment before his shoulders sank just a bit.

"She advised me to stay in War," he finally spoke. There might have been a number of interpretations to these words, but for what they knew now it became fairly easy to know what she'd been referring to. She had known there would likely be other attacks, though maybe not in which quarter at the time… or she did know it would be in Silent but chose to be vague so they wouldn't immediately leap into action and prevent the Horus girl and her team to move into place.

"Iris, is Agent Sharpe back at headquarters now?" Gideon asked.

"Uh…" Iris turned around in her chair for a moment, talking to someone off screen before turning back. "She should be here soon," she finally told them. "But, uh… there's something else. Nora Allen's here." Standing on the other side of the console and thus not seeing the screen, Barry's head turned up at the sound of his mother's name. A few of the others now looked to him, too, knowing or realizing who this person would be to him even as he moved around the screen to see the girl back at headquarters.

"What… What's she doing there?" he asked.

"Well, she's sort of been checking in now and then, asking about Zari, checking that we're still looking for her, I guess, but uh… Does she know about you?" Iris asked hesitantly, looking to him.

"No, I haven't told her," Barry shook his head. "Why? Did you tell her?"

"No, no, I swear," Iris quickly replied. "Except…" She grew hesitant again, looking around before facing him again on the screen. "I'm not sure that she… I think she knows." Barry looked up to Eobard back on the other side of the console before turning back to Iris.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"Another long story short, I… I can't remember who knows what and who doesn't anymore, but I came here with this couple, the Queens, after they were reunited with their son and daughter, they're heroes here, speedsters."

"You mean the Flash?" Barry asked, eyes widening.

"And Kid Flash, yeah, just…" she gestured as though to say 'keep this to yourselves.' "So the Queens and your mother were in the lobby together for a while, talking, while the rest of us were dealing with the Desert breachers. I had to escort in Mr. & Mrs. Queen because the Flash was injured out there, and they said something about how the woman they'd been talking to also had a son who was a hero, possibly out on Breach right now…"

He didn't know what to say. He'd had his reasons for not wanting her to know, and on the whole they hadn't changed. But now… If she did know, he guessed some things would make sense, although he didn't know how long she could have known about it, about him… She probably didn't realize Eobard was a part of this, too. She'd only ever seen Firestorm, seen him, never the merge, had she? So many questions were bursting in his thoughts, but… What was he supposed to do about it now? This wasn't the time…

"Can you… Can you find a way to somehow mention near her that Firestorm is okay out here, without telling her that… I know about this?" Barry requested slowly, and Iris gave him an understanding smile and a nod.

"I will," she assured him.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**

When the signal had come through, flashing red and black, he had regretted at once taking his girls away from Main. He could not have known, of course, but now here they were, and all he could think was that maybe this was retribution for not having held up his side of the bargain in crossing to Main.

He looked to his daughters, both of them sitting huddled together, his younger one nestled in her big sister's arms, both of them staring up at him with questions in their eyes. _What is this? What's happening? Are we safe?_ He came up and crouched before them, touching either of their cheeks before bringing his hands together to tell them the very least he could.

"I will keep you safe," he vowed. "Everything will be alright." He didn't know that it would, but right then it seemed like promising it to them would drive him that much more to make sure he _wasn't_ lying to them, that they really would be alright. They looked so much like their mother, his eldest one in particular, and having already lost his wife, he knew he couldn't bear to lose anyone else, especially their daughters…

There had to be a way to do something, but what? They had been warned to stay right where they were, that if they became aware of any violations there would be immediate and random repercussions. Could they even tempt that?

Still, it didn't take a genius to figure out that these people were not from here, and _that_ could be their one advantage. These people would not know the city the way that he did, the way they all did. Maybe, just maybe, that would be their undoing.

He thought of the woman who'd addressed them back in the strange place with the overwhelming… He didn't even know how to describe it. All he'd really known, what his girls had known, as they'd been led to cross from Silent on to Main, was that people here communicated with their mouths, that they spoke, with a voice. Was it what that had been? Did the objects have voices, too?

He had never met her or the others with her, but he was aware of who they were, just a bit. He had heard about crossings before, although for the most part he hadn't really known whether he saw it as truth or make believe. But he had heard of a ship that would fly over the city at times, something to do with the outpost at the heart of the city. That had to be where they were from, although the ship they'd been taken to wasn't that big.

Maybe they would come now. Maybe they would help them. He hoped they came… they had to… He knew that, if they did come, and if there was any way, he would help them stop what was happening out there. He had made a promise to his daughters, and though he dreaded to think what might happen to them if he were lost, he knew he would do just about anything to protect them, even if it meant his life was forfeit.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

 **STEIN LABS**

Agent Sharpe had been informed of her teammates on Breach and how they needed to speak with her upon her arrival at headquarters, and so now Ralph and the rest of them turned their attention to her as she took the seat Iris had just vacated in front of the screen. While the Haven girl went off to perform her covert 'mission' alongside Nora Allen, Ava was quickly briefed about the situation in Silent. As expected, in the middle of everything else happening on Main, she still had no idea about this turn.

"I can join you if you need my assistance," she offered at once.

"I can take her place on Main," Slade offered. "To keep the numbers balanced."

"They certainly wouldn't say no to a spare speedster," Ava pointed out.

"Except we could need you in Silent," Ralph reminded Slade. "If this is really the project soldiers…"

"There are none from Mercury, remember?" Slade told him.

"So they said. From everything we've seen and heard the last few days, are you willing to take the chance that they didn't lie about this, too?"

"You've got me," Roy spoke up. "I'm just as fast as a speedster." Slade looked up at him at this, momentarily curious like he was about to suggest a race.

"Alright then, make the switch," Ralph told the two of them.

In no time, with Jax enabling the crossing, Slade Wilson was off to ARGUS headquarters on Main, while Ava Sharpe set foot in Stein Labs to join the team. She looked happy to see her teammates again, though she showed immediate gratitude to Seeker upon finding her here, thanking her for the advice back in Desert Quarter, something several of them here didn't even know had happened.

"Before we go to Silent, before we can even figure out how to go about stopping what's happening out there, it might be best if everyone had a good idea of what they were heading into," Ralph told Ava, who gave a nod of understanding before facing the group spread out around the room.

"Silent Quarter is just that. It's silent, no sound, no voices… It's hard to explain if you haven't experienced it, but there really is nothing, no white noise, no buzz, just a world on mute. That means as soon as you're there it will affect you, too. The people born and raised in Silent, if they were to cross to any other quarter, they would be met with sound, not even knowing that it was a thing… They have never spoken or heard people speak. They have the written word, and they have SQSL, the Silent Quarter Sign Language. I can teach you some basics, but you'll need to equip yourselves with means to communicate in other ways. There's text, and then there's these."

Pulling up her sleeve, she showed them a band she wore on her wrist, a gift given to her on one of her earlier visits to the quarter.

"There's a code, colors and patterns," she went on, running through those they might need to know the most. "It's accompanied with a light vibration to the skin when the signal is sent on broadcast."

"If we are able to communicate telepathically…" Harrison Wells raised his hand to inquire.

"Honestly, I have no idea. You'll have to try it," Ava told him before carrying on. "There are systems in place, on motion detectors, which will manifest with lights again, most of the time. Once we know how we'll proceed, I can point them out to you so you'll know not to trigger them and give our presence away to… Do we know who's behind this?" she turned to her teammates.

"At least one soldier out of Project Horus," Rip revealed. Ava looked surprised at once, although it made the mention of Mercury speedsters make more sense now.

"A strong chance of other project soldiers being in on this," Gideon added, the memory of the Horus girl's pleased smile coming to her, right before the memory of how she'd flown away.

"Time for _your_ presentation then?" Ava tipped her head to Hawkgirl, as she and Rip and Slade and Ralph shared a look. Even after they had all come to the War Riders' rescue earlier, they still knew very little about the projects being harbored inside the resistance army base.

"There were five groups," Rip started. "Project Mercury attempted to replicate Slade's acquisition of speed. There may or may not be more out there. Then there's us, Project Horus, the winged soldiers in the sky. Project Titan sought to make the strongest soldiers, indestructible. Project Neptune allowed soldiers to breathe underwater, among other attributes. And Project Svarog…" He stopped here, looking to the other three around him.

"Svarog was to be scrapped, buried," Ralph took over. "But one of them escaped, and ran into the arms of the enemy. _They_ carried it on."

"Then there are both resistance _and_ enemy aligned soldiers in there," Kara stated, feeling a new wave of frustration rising in her, the part that still identified so strongly as a citizen of War. "Making trouble for both sides, not caring who gets killed in the process."

"If this is who you all will be dealing with," Catherine Grant spoke up, "I may have a way to simplify your tracking."

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	38. DAY 075 (vol 1, ch 38)

_Day 75 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 38_

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **ARGUS OUTPOST**

When agents would be brought under consideration for Silent, they would not immediately be accepted into the post. They would go in, under a revisionary status, for six months before it was decided whether or not to make the posting official. Some agents didn't make it to the end of that six months… some didn't even last a week, and that was really what made this step essential.

To live in a place like Silent, when you had spent your entire life well aware of what sound was, well aware of one's own voice, it could be difficult to adjust to a transition into a world where it would be taken away. In all the history of the outpost in Silent, it had been known for there to be a predominance of deaf agents, who would not only bypass the shock of the silent world but also be able to be fast tracked past the six-month revision.

The outpost had been forced into lockdown. That had been part of the demands handed down to them by their captors, whoever they were. If they became aware of any activity out of the Silent contingent of ARGUS, a grenade would be cracked.

The outpost director had ordered all her agents to remain as they were for the time being. Help was on the way, they knew that much, and while it was in all of them here to want to be the ones to handle the situation, they really didn't know what they were facing, and until they did they just needed to stay right where they were.

They knew help was coming, because part of it was already arriving. They didn't have nearly as many agents as Main Earth would have had. So they'd been sent backup. Several people had been coming through their crossing, each of them with more than a working knowledge of SQSL and ready to help protect the city where they would be needed.

But these people were, for the time being, as grounded as the outpost agents already were. They were, all of them, essentially here as backup to a team that was to be sent in from the Waverider. They would know what they were dealing with, and they would call the shots. This wasn't something that pleased _all_ of the agents, who would have rather taken care of things themselves, in this city they had really adopted as their own, but they begrudgingly went along with the command because they knew… the stakes were too high to mess around without knowing what they were headed into.

So they stayed, and they watched, and they waited…

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

 **STEIN LABS**

As Catherine Grant went about developing this idea of hers, she told the others to continue to figure out their course of action. All she told them for the time being was that they should go on with the assumption that they would be able to know exactly where the soldiers were and which type they would be dealing with. So, under that rule, Ralph looked to the twenty-some people gathered around him. They had to play to their strengths, knowing what they were going to be up against. One project at a time…

"Right," he breathed, turning to Rip and Gideon, "You'll be seeing to the Horus subjects I assume?"

"Make that a certainty," Gideon told him, not even looking toward him. Her mind was somewhere back at the base, in the projects wing, before they'd escaped… Rip, standing behind her, had his hands on her shoulders as he nodded to Ralph.

"Firestorm, you would be best equipped to deal with Svarog. Their being aligned to the enemy leaves us at something of a disadvantage…"

"We've got this," Barry promised, looking to Eobard, who gave much the same sentiment with a nod. He tried not to think about his mother, back on Main. She knew… How did he not realize that she would see through him? Maybe he just didn't want to admit it to himself.

"I can go after Mercury's speedsters," Roy spoke with confidence. "But Rory and I talked, and he is going to help here in War. I'll need backup in Silent."

"I can't match you for speed, but I might have a way to compensate for it," Mike raised his hand. "Does that suit of yours have any pockets?" He looked so confident about his plan, Roy simply gave a nod. He would take him on as his partner.

"Excellent, what's next?" Ralph looked around, as two by two the teams for Silent were coming together and stepping to one side of the room.

"I have some idea of how I might be able to go after these Neptune soldiers," Kara spoke up. "But I'd need a mask, one that would allow me to breathe underwater but still use my cry." Slowly they looked back to Catherine, presently hunched over her current project. Finally sensing eyes on her, she looked up, staring back at them for a moment before sighing.

"Sure, just add it to my list…"

"If she's going after those, then I'm going with her," Alexandra added, as though there'd ever been any doubt where _she_ would go.

"Then that leaves Titan…" Ralph counted off. This would be a tough one, knowing what those soldiers were made to be. They couldn't spread themselves too thin, but some people were just needed in some places more than others. Finally, expelling a breath that sounded like it had been on the verge of being released for far too long, Winn answered the call.

"I'll go. I had to get out there sooner or later." All this time he had taken it upon himself to look after things back on the ship, because someone had to. But they had Catherine now, didn't they? Well, they'd always had her, whether they'd known it or not, but it would take some time for him to internalize it. "Sharpe?" he turned to Stargirl, his teammate, his fellow agent.

"Sounds good to me," she accepted.

"Good," Ralph nodded. "Then the last part would be getting you all into Silent and in position as covertly as possible, which means…"

"Me," Seeker piped in before he could say it. Jax opened his mouth as though to argue that he could get them there quietly, too. "I have to rely on openings that are already there," she pointed out, "If those of you staying here need to go into the base, you'll need a quick escape, you'll need someone who can _make_ an opening anywhere. That's you." He hadn't considered it that way. "Besides, if we're trying to save time, I've already got this part handled," she went on, speaking and SQ signing at the same time.

"I'll be staying here in War," Ralph went on before turning to Ava. "It'll be your call out there, so if you want to step in here…"

"The ideal end to this situation will be to locate the soldiers, subdue them, and retrieve the grenades and any other devices they might have rigged together," she told the group gathered around her, the ten who would be accompanying her, as it almost went without saying. "We don't know how many there are of them out there, but if we get _them_ , then it'll be our best chance to put an end to this."

The thought that it could all finally be over… oh, if that wasn't the best motivator, they didn't know what was. They could destroy any chance of this weapon being used again… so long as no one put the pieces together again… but how could they do _that_?

"Has anyone ever action tried to… fix Mist?" Barry asked. He didn't mean to interrupt, but it was a question that felt sort of necessary at this point. Those among them who were either of the Waverider or of ARGUS had a look about them like they wished they could give him a better answer.

"It's been attempted, of course," M'gann answered. "But never successfully."

"I've spent more hours than you might think, considering that very question, hiding in my rooms," Catherine Grant spoke, without looking away from her work. "Whatever made Mist what it is, there's no coming back from it. If you don't want anyone else getting their hands on that water, making more of this weapon, then you only have so many options. You either find a way to prevent anyone else ever crossing in or out of that quarter, leaving those people to die away until there's no one left… or you make damn sure no one else can get their hands on it, drain the supplies. It's not as though they can do a whole lot with it as it is."

"Right," Ava spoke up after a few seconds. "So for now let's see what we can do about removing the weapon from the equation."

"Here we are," Catherine sat up, a satisfied look on her face. To some extent, spending so much of the last few years on her own had left her able to concentrate on a given task like she wouldn't have been able to, not back in the days when she'd been in her own time, at the head of her company. In very little time, she had now crafted what she hoped to be the answer to at least one of their problems.

"What is it?" Kara asked.

"This, Miss Danvers, will enable you to track these project soldiers according to their… power source," Catherine explained.

"There could be metas in Silent with those same powers though, couldn't there?" Alexandra asked.

"Which is why it will also be able to differentiate the locals from their unwanted visitors," Catherine went on. Ava picked up the device, which was already active. It showed everyone in the room who was a metahuman.

The ones who were from the quarter they were presently in – War – were shown as such. Rip, Gideon, Stein, Seeker. In Kara, it appeared to recognize her as being from somewhere else, but maybe for the fact that her meta status had been 'activated' here in War, it would just… alternate. She was of War as much as she was not. Then there were the other metas, the ones who were from some other Earth or quarter. Winn, Barry, Eobard, Jax, all of them out of Main.

They had something similar through ARGUS. It had come in very handy over the past few days, although it did not appear to recognize their origins so fast as Catherine Grant's device did. Where it differed even more from the technology they had on Main was the identification of some power base, even though it didn't go out into specifics.

It identified Seeker, and Jax, and Stein as 'dimensional' though, when looked at individually, each one of them was different from the next in how this power was expressed. It identified Rip and Gideon as 'aviary,' Barry and Eobard as 'nuclear,' and Kara as 'sonic.' It marked Winn as 'shapeshift,' which was entirely true, though it might have led someone to believe he could turn into other people or objects.

"There is room for refinement," Catherine had declared with a nod.

"It will do for now, thanks Cat… Miss Grant," Ava told the woman, as though she was only now realizing this was indeed their old AI. Leonard had told them all about this, but this was the first time she had actually met her… It was strange, but at the same time… kind of amazing. "Do you suppose it might be able to pick up on something like my staff…"

"Or this," Evelyn jumped in, holding the pendant around her neck in her palm.

"Or aliens like us," J'onn added, looking to M'gann, to Roy and Rory.

"Absolutely," Catherine Grant declared confidently. "But we're going on first things first basis here, and for now I have plenty more to prepare if you wish to get to Silent in a timely fashion."

"So," Ava turned back to her team. "We get in, locate, disperse, capture, retrieve… Those are the essential steps and, we can only hope, they will see us to the end of this siege. But we need to be prepared in case it won't be. You will have your light bands, and written communicators. You'll also need a base of SQSL. Winn, Rip, and Gideon can get by, Seeker is fluent," she looked back to the breach hopper, getting a nod. "Then that leaves you six," she turned to look at the Danvers sisters, Firestorm, Mike, and Roy. "Let's go somewhere to start on that."

Off went the eleven bound for Silent, leaving thirteen behind, those who would have to concentrate their efforts either on the ongoing endeavors here in Stein Labs or back on the Waverider, those bound for another visit to the resistance army base, and those who would go out into the city, as backup to the base team or the people of the city itself, in the even that things spiraled out of control… again.

"I'll head back to the Waverider with Miss Grant. In the event that things go sideways, we need to be at the ready to fly," Ralph declared. "Who's headed to the base?"

"I am," Evelyn jumped in at once. She was angling for a fight, they could just see it, and when their eyes told her as much, she let out a breath. "I'll behave, I swear."

"We already know _I'm_ going," Jax spoke next.

"I'll lead you through, if you don't mind," Detective Raatko stood to join them, turning to Valor even as he was standing to do the same, as though she'd expected it.

"One human, one wielder, one meta, one alien… How's that for a team?" he commented with a smirk. That settled that. They would be the base team.

Stein, Wells, and Zeta, none of them fighters and entirely more valuable and needed here, would remain at Stein Labs. This left M'gann, J'onn, Patty, and Rene to patrol the city in wait of what might come next.

"What's going to be our goal, going into the base?" Jax asked.

"One way or the other, we need to find out who knows what in there, From the projects wing up to the General, some of them have to have known about these soldiers, if it really isn't just the one Horus girl," Nyssa nodded. "It won't be the first time we've doubted the General's allegiance, and if this time it turns out she _is_ involved…"

"She can't be…" Laura Zeta sighed. The resistance was so important to the city. How many of them continued to cling to some shape or form of hope because the resistance was there, protecting them? What would happen to these people if they found out that the resistance was spoiled from head to heart? Could they be robbed of so much, after having their feeling of security, of shelter, taken from them at the WQI and in each of those attacks?

"From everything we've seen, it could well be contained to the projects wing, and it would make sense," M'gann told her. "Everything we've seen in the past few days, if the projects have been able to guard their operations the way they have without being shut down, they would have known better than to let it big enough that it would reach the General. I still believe in her, and you should, too."

"But we still can't tell her about any of it, can't involve her until we know," Ralph pointed out. _We can believe in her all we want, but we also have to go on under the assumption that this belief might not be earned after all._ That was what he was trying to say without actually saying it; he didn't want to lose faith in her either, like Laura, like anyone else born of War Quarter.

"If I need to be able to get us into the projects wing, anywhere else in or out of the base, I'm going to need to see… blueprints, maps, images, anything you've got," Jax told the others.

"You'll have them," Ralph promised.

"Once we get in there, we need to see what they've really been up to," Evelyn went on. "We need to know what they know, and they can't raise the alarms." The enemy aligned forces, the ones who had come in to lend their support to the resistance in this hunt for those responsible for the attacks on their communal points… The powder keg waiting to burst when the truth came out… They'd be in there, too. "They're going to need someone to blame, sooner or later… and we can't give them that, not without the whole city breaking apart."

"We don't know that yet," Martin Stein turned to her. He couldn't help but feel his heart go out to this young girl, the father in him, so lost since Lily's change, just felt bound to protect her.

"Today, we fight to save Silent Quarter… but we also fight to do the same for War," J'onn added.

Evelyn still feared for how her city would fare in the end, but she would heed the advice she was given here… What else could she really do? Unlike the plan for Silent, which was for the most part straightforward, the one for War felt much more like it could only be created up to a certain point. After that, they'd have to make a plan for the next part, going off of what they'd learned before, and when _that_ part was done, another checkpoint, another new bit of plan… until somehow, somewhere, they reached the part that would lead them to the end, whatever it turned out to be.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	39. DAY 077 (vol 1, ch 39)

_Day 77 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 39_

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **ARGUS HEADQUARTERS**

Cait didn't know what she would have said or done if she'd walked back into that holding area and still found the two men in their cells. It had been stronger than her, she needed to give it another try, even if she had to plea with them, make some deal… to get Ronnie back…

But when she'd opened the door she had immediately known that something was wrong. It was the smell… the smell… It turned her stomach before she even knew what it came from, and when she did see, when she found the guards dead on the ground, singed and burnt, she felt at once dizzy with sickness, and this feeling spent itself in the nearest trashcan she located. Heaving and out of breath, she'd moved to slap the alarm on the wall. In no time, other guards had come in, finding their dead colleagues and the empty cells.

When Director Heywood walked in a few minutes later, there was Cait, sitting with Lisa Snart, who had her arm around the shocked speedster's shoulders, and the agents who'd previously answered the sound of the alarm. They briefed the director on what they had learned through surveillance, which was not a whole lot. There had been a glitch, and by the time they'd fixed things…

There was little else for them to do now. Henry looked into the empty cells, where not long ago his grandson had been caught, prevented from doing any more harm. Now this…

"Who killed my agents?" he asked quietly.

"Her name is Jesse Wells. She goes by Livewire," Cait replied, her voice still weak. He turned to look at her. "She's one of the other kidnappers." The Director looked back to the dead agents. All this time, there had been this other situation happening, right under their noses, and he hadn't known, he couldn't. There'd just been too much happening at the same time. This could have been prevented…

X

 **SOMEWHERE…**

"Hey," Zari went and sat next to Wallace. He'd been quiet since he'd found out about his father being here, had gone and sat on his own, and the rest of them had left him mostly to himself for a little while, figuring he probably needed this time to really deal with this confirmation he'd been delivered. But it had been a few hours now, and with a new tray of food in their midst, Zari had decided to grab up a few things and move to join the one who'd been her only company for a long time before they'd become three, and four, and six.

"Not hungry," he told her without looking up.

"Liar," she spoke quietly, holding out a wrapped burger. He took it from her, opened up the wrapping, and he started to eat. She had cookies… again. "When I got to Main, at first, it was so strange, this idea that I could have as much as I wanted to eat… even too much. I wouldn't dare stuffing myself, because hey, what if I ran out and didn't get more? Eventually I came around to figuring out what I needed, when I needed it… But I'm stuck here now, so I'm just going to have whatever I want," she smirked happily. She hoped it would nudge him out of his troubled headspace, even a little, and it did.

"Not everything," he pointed out, nodding down to his burger. She nodded back in agreement.

"Well, there are some limits you need to keep."

"This one didn't come from the same place," he added. Zari blinked, looking down to the wrapper again. She hadn't even noticed. Turning her head, she looked to the tray's contents. There were a few things that looked to be the same, but the rest was different, like someone else had done the pick up this time.

"Mag?" she called to the others, and the alien woman walked up to them. "Who was here before the tray arrived?" Mag thought about this for a moment, like she'd catalogued all the impressions she'd been getting.

"The girls. They're gone again and…" She stopped. "Wait, they're back… the guys, too. They were gone for a long time…"

"Think they found something?" Zari wondered.

"I can smell them, can't hear them," Mag reminded her before moving back to sit with the others and the card game they'd gotten going. With one of them born out of War, another of a whole other planet, and two of Main, they had different games at their disposal, and they were teaching them to one another. In their minds they were thinking about the escape, too, though with Vandal on the other side of the wall they couldn't discuss it aloud. He had to leave, they needed to be able to talk openly… and act… they needed to get out of here.

"When we get out of here," Zari looked back to Wallace, "And we _will_ get out of here. When we do, whatever's happening out there… it'll be your chance to finally chance things for yourself." He looked at her, confusion in his face. "Your father is your father, there's no changing that. But you get to be you. Not Joseph West's son… You get to be Wallace West, you get to show them who that is. You can be a hero, not because of powers, or weapons, none of that. I've seen what you can do… The world always needs people like you."

He let out a breath. He didn't say anything, but if words could have power, then maybe hers had done their work. His shoulders looked just a bit higher now.

"Now what do you say we find a way out of here?" He looked at her.

"Can I have a cookie?" he asked, and she laughed.

"You can have two," she tossed him a pack and he caught it.

X

It was like being called to the principal's office… if the principal was some guy out of Future Quarter who came off like some magician with the tools he had at his disposal. This was no bunny pulled out of a hat though, and maybe this time the unsuspecting assistant getting sawed in half would really be parted with half its body… or something. Either way, it wasn't going to be pretty, but there was no escaping it. They had to go back. In this case, much as they'd be loath to say it, they were not in charge, they were… lackeys… possibly about to be very dead lackeys.

They'd followed Lily, Jesse, and Lyra out of their cells and into that mirror and… well, the least said about that entire journey the better. When they'd made it to the other end they were standing in front of the building. Vandal would be inside, as would the six they'd gotten hold of up to now. If they were lucky – if there was such a thing as luck after the way they'd messed up – there would be no one else.

"Do you want us to stick around to protect you?" Lyra whispered as they walked in. Jesse chuckled, Lily smirked… The only response they got was a couple of firm glares. "It's just going to annoy the hell out of you that _we_ saved you, isn't it?"

"If you think that makes us owe you anything, you might want to reconsider," Raymond told her.

"Nice talk, Palmer," Lily tapped his arm, in the spot where there had previously been an arrow sticking out, until she'd gotten it out, and where there was no more than a scar left after they'd taken up the advice they'd been given about visiting Fast Quarter. "But when it'll come down to it… you _will_ remember, and you won't be able to forget."

On this, they had reached the hall that would take them to the room where Vandal would be waiting, looking in on their captives. Lily opened the door, and the five of them filed in, finding Vandal exactly where they would have expected to find him, facing the glass looking into the room, his hands joined behind his back.

He didn't speak, or move, or acknowledge their presence, though of course he would know that they were back… all of them. No one spoke back, waiting to see if he would wait until they explained themselves, or…

"I took the liberty of retrieving your weapons, gentlemen," he finally spoke. Looking to the right they spotted the two guns, intact both. For a moment there they'd expected to find only pieces, fervently crushed and unsalvageable. "You will carry on the work you were called on to do." Silence held. Was that it? There was no way, this was too…

"We…" Nate started, only to be interrupted with the swiftness of a blade made from words.

"When this is over, the results will dictate my response to your foolishness earlier today. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes… sir," Raymond responded with a look to his partner, counseling against anything but an identical response. Nate took a breath.

"Yes, sir," he spoke flatly, moving to retrieve both his and Raymond's guns, handing over the cold one. There was no need to wait after that; they had been dismissed.

"Congratulations, you're not dead yet," Lyra declared as the five of them moved back out into the hall and out of the building. They all needed to stop and figure out where they were headed next before they could make their next jump.

"If I were you, I'd move my search to anywhere except Main… and Haven… You keep this up, you'll run out of quarters before this is over," Lily told them.

"As though the three of you will be welcome here after those agents back at ARGUS," Raymond replied.

"You're welcome," Jesse turned a frown toward him.

"Alright, enough," Lily sighed. "Catch you boys later," she nodded off to the side for her partners to join her. Raymond and Nate shared a look… and an idea… and doubt… and resignation.

"Wait," Nate called after them. The girls turned back like they'd known all along this would be their move. Nate rolled his eyes, his jaw tightening as he knew he would regret this. "Team up," he finally said it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you," Lyra fixed him with a look that made him think she was about to use her abilities on him. The world didn't twist around him though… It would probably have been less painful.

"The five of us working together, we can find what we need to find sooner," he declared. The girls looked to one another, knowing this was as good as winning already, looked to Raymond and his scowl, to Nate and his empty look…

"Agreed," Lily told him. "Let's go somewhere and compare notes. Allow me." She opened a breach and one by one they left Main Earth through the crossing before it closed again, leaving a quiet afternoon wind behind.

Out of the way and out of sight, John Diggle watched the departure of the liberated pair and their trio of liberators. He imagined things would not end well for some of them once it was discovered Palmer and Heywood had ingested trackers in the lunch they'd been served back in their cells. Never would it be said that he would ever let a chance slip by when it presented itself so plainly before him. No one else knew yet, and no one would, not until the six were retrieved, one way or another.

X

The room had been left tense in the wait for an all-clear from Mag. It had to happen. At some point, it had to happen. Vandal would leave as he did now and again, but what if he didn't leave for hours still? Or what if he left but had the guys stay behind to guard them, or the girls, or… someone else? Much as they tried to keep track of the time, sooner or later they got turned around in their count, and then it was over, they were stuck like the others, not really knowing what time it was anymore, or how long they'd been inside this room. It could have been morning like it could have been the middle of the night.

Whatever time it was, they had decided they would have to be as rested as possible when their next chance came up, so two by two they would settle down and go to sleep for a while, the rest of them keeping watch. Mag had to be convinced to go to sleep, too. She wanted to stay awake, on alert, for when the moment would come. They couldn't waste a second. The only way they got her to settle down was by letting her go first, along with Ronnie. Then it had been Carter and Kendra's turn, and then Zari and Wallace after them. As of yet, there was no sign of their being left alone.

Mag had passed the small, as yet unidentified object she'd gotten off of Lily Stein in their fight, to Ronnie after he asked for it. It continued to bug him, and as they went on waiting, while Zari and Wallace had their turn at a nap, he covertly went on inspecting it, out of view – he had to hope – from Vandal watching from outside the room.

"You got this off of her when?" he asked Mag.

"Before you were brought here," she shrugged, to remind him she had no clue how much time had gone by anymore. Still, she kind of saw what he was getting at. It had been over a day, and there had been no attempt made by Lily, by Vandal, by _anyone_ to get it back. If it was in any way important, she would have had to realize she no longer had it. And, sure, maybe she would assume she'd lost it somewhere else, but even if that was the case, sooner or later she would have considered the chance that she'd lost it _here_ and she'd have checked.

So, either she still didn't know it was gone (so it could not have had that much worth), or she believed she'd lost it elsewhere (doubtable), or she knew they had it and the whole thing was bait and the object was nothing more than a paper weight. They'd been so sure it had to be important, that it could be their way out of here, but maybe it was just something to keep them occupied and give them hope they never really had.

"Tell me how it went down? How'd you get it?" he asked. Mag thought back.

"I knew she was going to charge me, so I told myself it was as good of a chance as any for me to get something to help us. I wanted to find that thing they use to make breaches, maybe we could use it to get out of here. I located every pocket I could see on her clothes, tried to see how I could check them all without her noticing, especially since she was going to come at me all messy. I swear I almost had the thing, right before I got forced down, and then it was all over pretty soon after that. But I'd at least gotten that," she turned her eyes to the object hidden in Ronnie's hands.

"What pocket was this in?" he asked. Again, she recalled the steps of the fight.

"Jacket, right," Mag pointed where about it would have been. "About the only place I could convince myself she wouldn't think to look to see if she still had it… but that would mean she didn't need it, if she could _not_ realize she'd lost it."

"She wouldn't have to bother pulling it out if it was automatic." They turned, finding that both Carter, and Kendra next to him, had been listening in to the conversation. He shrugged. Ronnie looked at him, at the device, then back to Mag.

"Still here?" he asked.

"Unfortunately."

So they waited. Did he know they were eager for him to leave? Was he staying just to mess with them?

Finally, Mag looked to the others with evident relief on her face. He was gone, they were alone. Ronnie stood from the ground.

"Where was she standing?" he asked Mag. She stood, too, as Zari started to wake.

"What's going on?" she asked groggily.

"Not sure, maybe nothing," Kendra told her. Zari reached over and shook Wallace awake, while Mag guided Ronnie ("Back up. Again. To the left. No, too far…") to as close to Lily's position before she'd charged at her. As the others watched, Kendra was the one to see where this was headed. "Hey, look up," she told him. When he did, he saw what he was being led to stand under.

"Here?" he looked back to Mag as he moved to stand under what they could only guess to be the dampener.

"Looks right to me," Mag nodded. They were all looking at him now, like they expected something to happen.

"You know what they say about a watched pot, it's not like…" he waved his hand… It stretched out and would have whacked Wallace in the face if he didn't duck just in time. Ronnie gave a sound halfway between a gasp and a laugh. "Ha!" he declared.

"Good catch, Nature girl," Mag turned back to Kendra.

"What?" she blinked.

"That's where you're from, isn't it? It's faint, but…" she gestured at her face. Kendra still shook her head, not understanding.

The subject was briefly dropped though, as Ronnie's arm returned to its normal form all at once, and he tried and failed to make it stretch again.

"So much for that…" he sighed.

"You know, they did sound like they were kind of in a hurry to get out of there by the end, didn't they?" Zari turned to Wallace.

"I think," he shrugged.

"So maybe you can't deactivate the dampener, but you can suspend it…" she looked to Ronnie. "The longer the wait, the bigger the window."

There was no way of knowing if that was right unless they tested the theory, right?

"Right, so I better stay right here," Ronnie looked up to make sure he was still under the dampener.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	40. DAY 079 (vol 1, ch 40)

_Day 79 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 40_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **STEIN LABS**

The situation in Silent being at a standstill did nothing to put any of their minds at ease about taking all this time to get ready before actually crossing out there. For as much as they knew that it really would benefit them and the people of Silent if they were able to communicate on the fly, there continued to be this concern of what could happen while they were learning to sign things like "We are here to help" and "run this way" and "stop," a grenade could be set off and hundreds of people would die.

"Do you think that's why they chose Silent as their target?" Mike wondered, asking Roy at his side but also the others. "Because they knew it'd take all this time?"

"We could just send those people from the list, and you five, couldn't we?" Roy agreed, indicating Seeker, Ava, Winn, and the Hawks. "I mean I'd get it, and you could save them."

"It's not just about Silent though, is it?" Alexandra spoke up. The last few days, everything... it's been about us. They have to know we will try and stop them, even expect it. I can't help thinking it will be just as bad if we send others in our place and we don't show up."

"As strange as it sounds, I have to agree," Ava told her. "Everything I've seen on Main, and everything you all have told me of what's been going on, it's awful, but it makes sense. So now, if we can continue?"

With five of them with knowledge of the language and six in need of learning, they had been able to devote themselves almost one to one. Ava had paired with Alexandra, Seeker with Kara, Winn with Roy, Rip with Mike, and Gideon with both Barry and Eobard.

On the whole, Alexandra was an excellent student. She picked up on the language with ease, enough so that Ava would end up deviating from what she considered to be the kind of basic knowledge they would need to get by and into more in depth concepts that would give the one they called White Canary a more rounded awareness of the SQSL. She wouldn't be fluent, but as far as Ava was concerned the more they knew before they went out there…

Still, for how good of a student as Alexandra Danvers could be as far as taking in the information and retaining it, she also showed a distinct lack of focus. She kept stealing glances over to her sister, the concern obvious in her features. When she realized she was busted she turned to Ava again and apologized for her distraction by signing that she was sorry.

"Accepted," Ava told her, "And for that I won't ask you to try and explain with your hands. Is something going on with your sister? All I've heard is that she grew up in War and became a meta with the same power as my roommate back on Main."

"It's part of it," Alexandra confirmed. "There was an incident, our father was killed, and Kara… She ended up in War, with no memory of who she was before, still to this day… mostly. Ever since she came back, it's been… hard, for both of us, and our mother… But these last few days, things have been a bit more complicated, maybe from going back to War for the first time since she came back. We had a talk, back in Haven, I think the most honest talk we've had all this time, and now… I don't know, big sister mode is just up there," she shrugged.

"Right," Ava nodded with a smile. She might not have had a sister herself, but she could see how it would be hard not to keep thinking about the fact that someone you cared that much about was hurting on the inside. "If you don't mind me asking, do you think it will hinder you once we get to Silent?" Alexandra looked back to her. It would have been just a bit irresponsible not to ask, and she knew it.

"Truth be told, we both have something worth losing control over… but on the reverse, there's no one better equipped to keep us moving steady."

On her side of the room, Kara was very aware of her sister's eyes on her every now and again, and on the whole, it did not bother her as much as it might have done once… The words would come back to her, the talk they'd had back in Haven, and it would nudge her into seeing things from a different perspective. If that, on its own, could give her total peace of mind, that would be great, really. But it wasn't as simple as that. And if she wanted something else for her brain to focus on, the mind-numbing process of learning a bit of SQSL did the trick.

"Can you repeat what I've shown you so far?" Seeker asked, relatively patient, considering how this had to be just as frustrating to her, having to go over the same signs over and over again. The fact that she _did_ stay so remarkably patient only made Kara feel worse for not getting a grasp any faster.

"Somehow I don't think the gestures playing through my head right now are going to help with anything out there except maybe to make people angry," she told Seeker, who met this declaration with a curious eyebrow. Kara responded to this with a casually made gesture which, to anyone from out of War, would have seemed inoffensive. Seeker saw it, recognized it, and tipped her head, as though to say 'right, fair enough.'

"I'll make you a deal. You get through this, I'll teach you the swears." Kara looked back at her, evidently intrigued. "Hey, a deal's a deal."

"Alright, start again," she sighed.

Beyond Ava and Seeker, the other three left in charge of teaching could only remind their respective students that they themselves were not fluent, but for what they needed… it would be enough. Winn, for instance, could be said to be a skilled teacher, displaying the component of each word and expression in such a way that it became easier to recall them. Roy certainly thought so.

"If we manage to put a stop to all this, you and Rory will be able to go back and help look for your fugitive again," Winn stated. "Then if you catch him you get to go home, yeah?"

"We will bring him to face the justice he's evaded for all this time," Roy nodded. In his mind, a small voice seemed intent on pointing out just how long it had been, how much things had changed… It wasn't just that things back on their world would have changed so much, it was also that… well, _he'd_ changed so much, same for Rory, same for Felicity. He couldn't speak for them, but as far as he was concerned… He wanted to get Merlyn to justice as much as they did, but when all that was said and done… He couldn't say he looked forward to leaving Earth for good. What would he really be going back to?

"That's if they even let him go with you," Winn added. Roy looked at him, not understanding. "We know he's behind most of this… Well, we have a solid idea that he is. And once we have him, they might not care about him facing justice on some alien world. They'll want to keep him here, in our prisons." Roy considered this now, seeing what Winn was getting at. And the worst part was that it made him wonder if that wasn't part of Merlyn's entire plan.

If the six of them 'students' were to be categorized as to their receptivity to the lessons, Mike would decidedly be of those who devoted themselves the most. As a whole, he guessed he could be said to have a curiosity about him that would make learning new things something he responded to. But this time maybe there was something else to his motivation. He wanted to help save the people of Silent, wanted to stop any other attacks from happening, sure, but it was more than that.

Him and Jax, they'd been out here all this time, and they'd helped, sure, hadn't just sat there, twiddling their thumbs or anything. But they _had_ been gone from Main, from their friends and teammates. And in that time Zari had been taken… and Kendra had been taken… and Samantha had been hurt badly… Could they have stopped all of that if they'd been out there?

Maybe not, probably not. But they could have stopped some of it. They would never know for certain, and that wasn't what he was getting hung up on. All he really wanted now was for this time with the two of them, and all the others who'd been here instead of on Main, to have meant something. He wanted to be able to say 'I'm sorry we weren't here, but look what we accomplished.'

"This might sound weird, but I know a girl back on Main who's going to be jealous I got to spend time with the two of you," Mike told Rip, after it had become sort of clear that the student had learned just about anything the teacher could teach him, nodding to him and to Gideon sitting nearby.

Rip stared back at him, about as confused as Mike had predicted he would be.

"One of my teammates, Samantha, she has a daughter. Ruby, she's twelve. We told her once about seeing all of you out there. All she wanted to hear about were the two people with wings coming out of their backs. She said it made her think of stories and fairy tales… We had no idea how you two really got those, so I don't know…"

Mike might have interpreted the silence following this explanation as Rip's taking it all the wrong way, but really it was something more like surprise and, maybe, a bit of happy surprise. After all this time, going from children of War, to resistance soldiers, to Hawkman and Hawkgirl, to part of the Waverider's crew, to think that there was someone like this girl out there whose fascination for the two of them had nothing to do with attempting to control or replicate them and everything to do with wonder and imagination… It made him feel like maybe they could be more than fighters.

"If we get through all of this, I'd be glad to meet her," he finally said, and Mike looked the slightest bit relieved. "As would Gideon."

Gideon, for her part, was still in the process of teaching both Barry and Eobard about SQSL. Most anyone would have found it difficult to juggle the two of them and the way their bond as Firestorm would translate at times into half spoken declarations, the other halves made unnecessary by the connection in their minds. But then Gideon had Rip, and the connection of _their_ minds. Though theirs was different from the one these two shared, it left her to observe them talking to one another with something of a smirk on her face.

"Sorry, you were saying?" one of them would usually end up saying after letting the conversation derail. This time it had been Barry.

"It's alright," Gideon promised him. "But I would suggest you pay particular attention, Mr. Allen." He stared at her, unsure why that was. "From what I understand, when the two of you merge as Firestorm, you hear Mr. Thawne's voice inside your head. Is that right?"

"More or less," Eobard confirmed, just as he understood what she meant. Barry looked from one to the other, not grasping it just yet.

"It's really impossible to predict how this will translate with our being in Silent. It's one thing to have thoughts, but you two are something different entirely. The fact that the voice is in your head might make it so you'll still hear him, but you might not. You certainly won't be able to speak _to_ Mr. Thawne. The two of you will need to figure out a way to communicated with one another in the event that you cannot hear one another."

Eobard could only imagine it, and it was just on this side of terrifying. He would be there, merged with Barry as usual, yes, but unheard… No voice, no body, so what would be left of him?

"We'll find a way," Barry promised, as much to Gideon as to his partner. "Just keep showing us what to do with the language, please?" From that point on, they were both of them as focused as possible, and the lesson progressed with ease.

Eventually the groups would split off, putting the new knowledge to practice but also getting ready for their crossing into Silent, which would have to be soon. All they'd really been doing was using the wait for Catherine Grant to complete the work required before they could head out there to prepare themselves as best they could. When the once isolated leader of Grant Innovations arrived, pushing a wheeled cart laden with everything they would need, she looked at once exhausted and satisfied.

"I honestly don't know what I prefer, to remain down in my rooms, playing the AI and occasionally saving everyone while sitting comfortably, or finally getting my hands back in the game… It really takes me back," she declared with a smile that seemed to only divulge half of what she was thinking on the inside.

There were eleven of the bands for them to use the color code, but she'd also combined the written communication right into it, too.

"And they're waterproof," she added, like garnish thrown on with a flourish. "Which brings me to…" she lifted a pair of masks and showed them to the Danvers sisters. "Now, it occurred to me as I was working on these… This might come in handy, for you, and for our Agent Lane, as a whole, if you should find yourselves underwater, but… Well, there's really telling how your cry will react, or if you'll be able to use it at all, in Silent."

Kara, as Barry and Eobard had been left to contemplate, now found herself having to take in this thought she hadn't considered before. Miss Grant was right though. She'd been so sure until then that she would go out there and use her power to take down the Neptune soldiers right in their domain. Now she had to consider that she might be out in the water with her sister and have very little to provide to the effort.

"Thank you, Miss Grant," Alexandra told the woman, turning a look to her little sister that was a hundred percent loaded with big sister 'you got this' vibes. Kara took this in, maybe for the first time, with complete acceptance and trust. A part of her had been intent on keeping up a wall between herself and her sister and their mother since her return, the wall that hid all those fears and insecurities she carried within herself. But now Alexandra had come to shoulder that weight with her, and they could see one another plainly from over that wall…

"If all of you feel ready, I think now will be as good of a time as any to think about making that crossing," Ava addressed her group, doing her best to get as much said as needed saying before they had to rely on those bands on their wrists for the majority of their communication. "Once we arrive, the first thing will be to see what Cat's… What Miss Grant's…"

"Please, you've called me Cat all this time, it actually sounds strange if you don't," Catherine cut in. Ava took a breath before continuing.

"The first thing will be to see what Cat's tracker finds for us, who and what we're dealing with, which might not all be the projects, or might not _just_ be the projects. Whatever it is, we'll do what we can to reach the outpost, pull in some backup. If this turns out to be impossible, then each team as it was assigned will see about their given targets." She took a moment before continuing. "If at any time it becomes clear that we might be in over our heads, we pull out. As much as we all want to keep Silent Quarter from being wiped out, we won't be helping anyone by rushing headlong into something beyond our capabilities. Do we understand each other?"

They did. So now the task shifted on to Seeker, who had to find them a way in, preferably without any of them being spotted.

This turned out to be trickier than they'd already presumed. Jax might have been able to open breaches to anywhere from anywhere, but she couldn't. They'd had to leave the safety of Stein Labs, weaving quietly through War, to the one opening she knew that would not only take them directly to Silent but to just the kind of place they would be able to use to go in relatively unnoticed.

The one issue – to her at least – was that it would take them into her old home.

She had never wanted to go back there after her mother's death, after she had discovered what was out beyond her door, hidden for years and years. But the first time she'd ended up in Silent, after coming through an opening in Frozen, she had found herself standing before that very same building, just in _that_ city, and it had been stronger than her. She'd gone inside… only to find an opening that led back to its twin back in War, her real home.

Now here they were, moving toward the home of the late Lillian Luthor, and Seeker felt shivers up her spine. After following Kara and her sister into the Zeta home earlier, it was her turn to be led into an inadvertent blast from the past.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	41. DAY 081 (vol 1, ch 41)

_Day 81 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 41_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **STEIN LABS**

While 'Team Silent' was off brushing up on SQSL, the rest of them had been left behind to figure out what they would do about the base, and getting to the bottom of what had been going on, if it really was the whole of special projects that was in charge of the plan to manufacture the Mist weapon and to deploy it, in War, in Haven, potentially in Silent and anywhere else they may decide to do it. They had to figure out how high up the plan went if the first part proved right.

Ralph had already left with Catherine, the both of them headed for the Waverider back at the outpost. M'gann, J'onn, Rene, and Patty were out in the city. This left Doctor Stein, Laura Zeta, and Harrison Wells – who were right where they would remain – and the four who were to break into the base, Jax, Detective Raatko, Rory, and Evelyn.

Getting in seemed easy. Jax would open a breach, they'd go in, do… whatever it was they'd need to do to prove one way or the other who was or wasn't responsible and then…

"How are you supposed to find out if the General's involved?" Evelyn asked, arms crossed before herself. For being a tried and true Tradeswoman, she had plenty of respect for the woman and she refused to believe she would be so deceitful. The very idea that she might be lying to all of them, even if it was only a theory, and not even too strong of one at that, made her feel a lot more defensive than even she would have suspected.

"We start by searching her office," Nyssa told her.

"And you think she'll have detailed communications about all the bad things she's been doing?" Evelyn moved her frown in her direction. The detective opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off. "I have a better idea."

"Which is?" Jax asked.

"You," she looked at him, "Get them into special projects, do what you have to do there and, meanwhile, I speak with the General."

"You can't tell her we…" Rory started.

"Think she's a traitor? I wouldn't. I know better than that," Evelyn brushed this off as well. "No. I'll go in, through the front gates, and I'll ask to see her. I'll tell her I would like to enlist in the resistance army." She sounded so certain of herself, they didn't know what to say.

"Which accomplishes what, exactly?" Rory inquired.

"It can accomplish plenty, Valor," she assured him. "If you know how to talk to people."

"It's a risk…" Detective Raatko stated, her tone showing how, though the risk factor _did_ concern her a great deal, she couldn't deny that it might be their best chance. "Too much of one to send you in alone. But I could go with you."

"No, you couldn't, not for this," Evelyn turned to her. "Sorry, but you're not from here, and it'll be suspicious if I go in there like that and bring someone who's clearly not one of us."

"She's right," Laura Zeta spoke up. "So, I'll go with her." They turned to look at her.

"As a recruit?" Evelyn blinked, finding no way _not_ to sound like she knew that would never work. Laura could only smile at her before looking to the others.

"I'm going to offer her something she'll have to at least consider."

"And that is?" the detective asked, as Laura turned to Doctor Stein. He knew what she was suggesting, and he had to really consider the whole picture before he could say anything. Finally, he nodded.

"We offer Stein Labs' services, to help them fight off the enemy aligned forces." They were not in the market for weapons, nowhere near, but that didn't mean that they didn't have the capability to do it, far from it. If the General had any smarts, and she had loads, she would know it would be foolish to refuse. "If we want to read her, to figure out her allegiances once and for all," Laura went on, looking to Evelyn, "Then this might be the way."

"If they figure you out, if the General knows about the projects, condones it, if the enemy forces presently inside the base get wind of our suspicions, if _they_ get caught," Doctor Stein listed off, finishing with a gesture to indicate Jax, Nyssa, and Rory, "You might not be able to get out again, you could be killed."

It wasn't as though the man never showed any signs of real emotion, but it still relayed the seriousness of the situation. Laura understood where it came from, of course. Since he'd lost Clarissa and 'lost' Lily, and since she'd lost Eliot and Kara had disappeared, it had been in great part only the two of them in here, day in and day out. She was his closest friend, and the fear of losing her was showing itself.

"Then let's make sure that none of that ever happens," Laura told him. "I'm not interested in dying either." _Especially now that I can see my daughter again,_ she would add as a thought. Stein looked like he wanted to convince her otherwise, but just as with the detective, he knew it was going to be their strongest option.

"They already know that I've been working with you, with the neutralizer," Evelyn went on, looking from Laura, to Stein, to Wells. "So maybe the two of us started talking. And after everything we've seen happen… we both know that something needs to happen, something needs to change… and we want to be part of that change."

"Alright, then while you two are having this meeting with the General, the three of us will breach into the special projects wing," Detective Raatko indicated herself and Jax and Rory.

"How do we prove that they've sent soldiers out there with the grenades? How do we prove that they're involved?"

"For one thing," she started, "As far as I've been able to tell, when I followed Ralph on to the base, they have both an external and internal network. If we're able to tap into the internal surveillance, we may be able to find evidence. That's so long as they haven't erased it, but then if they _have_ erased anything, it will be half the battle of proving they're up to something."

"Okay…" Jax nodded. This could work. "What else?"

"Well, we might be able to gather some DNA evidence, whatever we did find at the launch sites, if we have something to compare to… Once we get there, we'll know better how to go about it. To begin with, we will have to know where to breach in, making sure not to show up in the middle of a crowded room."

"I can assist him on that," Doctor Stein told her.

While Doctor Stein and Jax moved aside, Evelyn went up to Laura Zeta, showing herself uncharacteristically shy.

"Hey, so, I… I wanted to say… thanks, I guess… for volunteering to come with me, backing my plan," she told the woman, who responded with a smile. "I guess I still sort of don't know how to be, sometimes, around people, without Carter… It feels like I come on a bit strong, but really I…" She shrugged, not knowing how to finish this statement or even if she wanted to. Laura didn't need her to finish it, she understood.

"You come on just as strong as you need to," she assured her.

She wanted to say something to the effect that Carter would be found and brought home safe, but she had a feeling that Evelyn had been hearing this a lot, maybe too much, and even though everyone who had said it had to believe it was true, even though she'd want to believe it, too, hearing it over and over would only serve to remind her it hadn't happened yet. Laura knew too well… She'd gone through that, after Kara had disappeared on them.

"When this is all over… You know you are always welcome here." Evelyn looked at her, an appreciative smile on her face. Depending on how it did turn out, they just might simply need one another, as a shoulder to lean on.

Left with the detective, Rory sat and looked around, to Stein and Jax here, Laura and Evelyn there, to Wells, working away in silence. He missed his team. He knew they all had their parts to play, trying to set things right in this situation both here on Breach and back on Main, and they were doing just that, but then before all that, he and Roy and Felicity had something to do, something important. They hadn't been able to do it, not for lack of trying, but still…

They'd ended up essentially stuck on Main, after finally waking up from stasis, and that was alright, really, it was. He enjoyed being Valor, being teamed up with both Superman and Supergirl, he did, and that was saying a lot, considering how he had gotten along with either of them in the beginning, before they'd come to Earth, before they'd adopted their human names _or_ their hero names. It used to be that he would have rather strike out on his own than to be with them…

Things had changed between them, and today he saw the two of them as his teammates, as his friends… his family. But a part of him still couldn't forget where he'd come from, the reason for that original rift. Maybe he'd volunteered for this mission into the base because, for everything he'd done over the years, a part of him still felt like he had to prove himself to them, to his captain, to her second-in-command.

When it was just the two of them, while Doctor Stein helped him get 'situated' before heading into the base, Jax couldn't stop thinking about his father in Future Quarter, how Stein had helped reunite the two of them, just as he'd said he would. And though Jax didn't let it pull his focus away from what needed to be done here, in his mind he did very much think about the point where he would get to go back and see his father again, to really have a conversation with him that wasn't cut short by necessity.

"So, when you cross into other quarters, you're different than how you are here, right?" Jax asked. He didn't know why he asked about this, or why he asked about it now… maybe because he'd let himself get distracted and didn't want to let it show. Doctor Stein looked at him for a moment, his face saying maybe he hadn't been fooled at all by the cover up. But, after a beat, he answered anyway.

"I am," he said, and Jax knew better than to ask him anything like 'what are you like when you're in such-and-such quarter?'

"Okay, just checking," Jax moved back to join his breach team. "I know where to take us," he told them.

"That's good," Nyssa nodded.

"What happens now?" Evelyn asked.

"We will follow you from a distance, until you get to the base. Once you are allowed inside, Jax will take us inside," she replied, looking to her side, to Jax, so he would confirm. Jax nodded.

With little more to be said or done, the five of them left Stein Labs, leaving only the building's namesake and his new friend Wells to work away… if they didn't fall back into discussing their daughters' actions of recent days. As arranged, Evelyn and Laura went on ahead, while the other three snuck their way along, following them.

When the two women reached the base gate, the others were keeping out of sight but watching very intently all the same. If they were turned away, they'd have to think of something else, but if they were allowed inside…

"They're opening the gate," Jax breathed relief. "Come on." After Evelyn and Laura disappeared past the gate, Jax found a hidden spot, opening the breach that take them into the base, and into the special projects wing. Nyssa and Rory walked through, Jax following behind and closing the breach, each one of them as tense as the next as they took in their surroundings and made sure they hadn't been spotted already.

Nyssa gave a signal to the other two. All clear. They'd made it in. Now came the hard part.

X

 **THE FORMER HOME OF LILLIAN & LENA LUTHOR**

" _This_ was your house?" Kara couldn't help but ask when they'd stopped in front of it, wide-eyed with surprise. She'd always just sort of seen Seeker like some… being of the world, untethered and unstoppable. Even after she'd started to get to know more about her, she still hadn't connected her to someone with a house… with _that_ house. Over the years, she'd walked by it so many times, wondering how a place like that could be standing, like the war had never touched it. She would make up stories sometimes. Some of them were good, almost fairy tales, others were spiteful, thinking about how good the people must have had it.

"Until I found my mother after she was murdered," Seeker spoke evenly, looking through the gate. Kara looked back at her, the surprise fading into sympathy. "We better make this quick."

She opened a hidden panel next to the gate, showing a green lit panel. She pressed her thumb to it, and in the next moment a dome shimmered in the air over the entire property, just as the gate opened. Seeker waved them through, and they hurried in. The moment she let her hand fall back, she dashed in. The gate closed, the dome shimmered again, and then… silence.

"What?" Winn blinked, looking around.

It wasn't silence like in Silent Quarter. They could hear one another, and the crunching of the ground beneath their feet, a light breeze, but that was all. It was as though, for the space of what sat inside the gate, there was no war… They might as well have been in Haven.

"Come on," Seeker started for the house. She didn't want to be here any longer than she needed to. And once they were in Silent no one would be able to ask her questions.

Walking through the door, only the dust, the signs of age and disuse, showed change. Otherwise, it was exactly as she'd left the place, years ago, after her mother's body had been removed, after she'd gone into a sort of manic need to clean away any trace of her death… _murder_ … They'd all see that just fine: the crossing was down there, in her mother's workroom.

The last time she'd been here, when she'd found the crossing from Silent, she'd sort of blindly gone up the stairs. Even before that, entering the house in that quarter, which was so different from this one on the inside, she had been alright, but now… now…

The moment she'd reached the top of the stairs and laid her hand on the ramp, it was like she was seventeen all over again, the alarm ringing through her house and wanting to find her mother, not knowing what she would find down there… She didn't realize she'd stalled there until she heard someone call her name.

"Lena?" Kara asked. She hadn't called her Seeker, or maybe she had and, when she hadn't responded, she'd switched, to reach her. Taking a breath, she stretched her foot down until it landed on the next step. This wasn't going to get any easier. She just had to do it. One step, and then another, and another… Her mother wasn't down there, she had to remember it. One step, and then another, and another, and another…

There was no door anymore. She had painstakingly retrieved the broken pieces without cutting herself, the same ones she'd had to walk just as carefully not to step on. Then into the room… and the bloodstains she hadn't managed to clean away completely.

"It's right this way…" she told the others, her voice faint, trembling, as she moved deeper into her mother's abandoned workrooms.

Walking by a desk covered in dusty piles of papers and books, Barry spotted a framed photo and picked it up. Seeker had looked back to see him looking at it. There she'd be, all of four years old, in her father's arms, her mother next to him, her brother standing in front of her… _the Luthors in happier times._ Seeing that image, it just seemed impossible that it had ever been real, that _they_ had ever been real, especially her father and her brother. Her mother, oh, she had very much existed, but more often than not all she could remember was her body, there on the ground.

The look on her face must have given away the fact that she hadn't seen their faces in a very long time. Barry held the frame out to her, as though to say 'keep it.' Seeker almost reached for it, but she let her hand fall back and moved to walk away, forcing the others to follow her. Barry set the frame back on the desk. Gideon picked it up and slipped the picture from inside and stuck the image in her pocket.

They came to a stop. Here was the crossing point. They couldn't see anything, but she said it was there, and that was all they needed to know.

"You said these places exist because a breach was made in that point before, right?" Kara asked. Seeker looked at her. "Doesn't that mean…"

"I know what it means," Seeker told her, pressing a hand to her arm and guiding her through the crossing into Silent Quarter, not wanting to think about the breacher who had killed her mother.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	42. DAY 083 (vol 1, ch 42)

_Day 83 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 42_

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

The moment they set foot through, with Seeker's hand at their shoulder every time even allowing them to travel, the hold of silence over them was total and immediate. Those of them who had never experienced it now found themselves having to describe the feeling, but… the words just failed them. To stand here, it was both awe inspiring and completely terrifying down to their bones. It felt a lot like the kind of thing where someone told you not to panic, because they knew… the moment you did panic, it would all be over and you would lose control.

The room they now found themselves in was structurally recognizable as the same they had been in before, the one in Seeker's old home. But it wasn't her home, not here, and it looked so different that it made it easier for her to be here… easier, but not easy.

The 'Silent newbies' all had to test it out. Seeker, Ava, Winn, the Hawks, they watched as the Danvers sisters, Firestorm, Mike, and Roy all tried to speak, to shout, make noise… all to no avail. They looked up, finding the rest of them staring back in amusement, which made them try and not appear so silly… anymore.

"Let's move up," Ava signed, waiting to see that everyone had understood before leading them toward the stairs. As they all moved through the house, it became just a bit frustrating, finding that many of them would have questions, only to have to remember they couldn't be heard. It all worked out in the end, as the questions they had mostly answered themselves as they went. The big one had been whether or not the inhabitants of the house would mind their being there.

As it turned out, the sole inhabitant of the large house was one old woman, who knew Seeker from previous encounters and welcomed her presence, like she was some rarely visiting grandchild. The two of them momentarily launched into a lively signed conversation, allowing Ava and the others to take out Catherine Grant's locator device and see what it showed them.

It quickly found them, closest to the device as they were, identifying each one of them as not being from the quarter they were in. It didn't pick up the old woman, but there were blips identifying the rest of them. As the search widened, they started to appear on the map. Here were two marked 'aquatic.' There were three marked 'speed.' Three more had 'flame,' and then two with the same 'aviary' as the Hawks, and one more, on its own, marked as 'density.' And they all originated from the same city.

Neptune, Mercury, Svarog, Horus, Titan… The Special Projects of War Quarter.

The group looked to one another. They had been for the most part sure that this would be them, but it was something else to have it before their eyes, or near enough to it.

Alexandra's hands moved here, perhaps not in SQSL, but in a way they could understand. She showed both her hands open before herself, then a single finger added to it, before rotating around the group. _Eleven of us._ She repeated the ten and one, pointing to the locator. _Eleven of them._

They understood what she was getting at. What were the odds? Was it really a coincidence, or was this one more sign that they were being led along just as they had been over the past four days? There was another issue, and Eobard was the one to spot it, looking at the screen, the positions of the project soldiers. They didn't need to live in this city to understood the strategy brought on by each of those locations. But the Svarog three were presently in a very obvious surrounding of the ARGUS outpost.

They couldn't go there, couldn't bring in the agents or their recruits, not until the trio had been dealt with. How could Firestorm alone deal with three of them at once without any one of them sounding the alarm that would trigger a first attack?

Ava moved to get Seeker's attention and bring her back to their side, showing her the three pyros around the outpost.

"Can you get us in?" she signed.

"I would need to go to another quarter's outpost, use the crossing point there, in case they're monitoring breach openings, but I can't do it," Seeker explained. When Ava asked why, she continued. "Most of the outposts are in the same place, and so are their crossings. I don't use those, they're all one on top of the other, it can take so long before I find the right exit… I get lost in the space between."

The others didn't understand most of Seeker's reply, but they didn't need to. The point was that she couldn't get them inside. The outpost was out, unless and until they managed to handle the Svarog soldiers.

"Friends?" Kara asked, looking to those four from the Waverider and to Seeker. The other word she could not sign, so she tapped it at the band around her wrist, showing the others. _Metas?_

Ava tapped at the locator, and a moment later, new blips started to appear, and as they kept appearing, the clusters they discovered were both inspiring and worrisome. There were metas assembled near each location held by a project soldier. Silent-born, each of them, and ready to defend their city… so long as they didn't get in over their heads and get caught. They had no idea what they were dealing with. Winn started typing at his band, letting them see as he went.

 _Move out. Assess. Locate soldiers. Locate metas. Judgment call._

Everyone nodded. They understood. It was time to get out there and find their targets.

X

Mike Matthews had flown before. With the Atom suit, it was as easy as though the power was right there inside his body instead of as part of technology wrapped around him. But he had never zipped along at speeds like this. If that wasn't enough, he was doing it while shrunk down and holding on for dear life, peering out of a pocket in Superman's cape.

It was just as well they were in Silent, right? He was screaming his head off.

Finally, they came to a stop, and he didn't actually get tossed out when they did. He'd been picturing that happening from the moment they'd taken off from the house. He had to snap out of it quick, as Superman reached in and pulled him from his cape. Maybe _he_ had been concerned he'd have lost his grip along the way, too. He made a gesture with his other hand, which Mike understood as his telling him to stay small. He wasn't sure what for, but for now he did as told.

They hadn't gone all the way to where the signals said the Mercury soldiers would be. Anyone going around the city for some reason, they wouldn't notice them as they sped on by, but those three the locator had picked up, _they_ would probably spot them. They couldn't have that.

They'd gotten as close as they needed to be in order to see something, off in the distance. Seeker, who would stay at the house with the locator, was supposed to alert them if anyone moved. So far, there had been no movement. Both Roy and Mike could see what they knew to be two of the three, posted at a distance from one another. The third would be somewhere too far for them to see.

Turning to the very small man in his hand, Roy had set him down on a nearby window ledge before using the amount of signs he knew to communicate his plan.

 _You. Go. Fly. Watch. Come back. Tell._

Mike watched the very large hands, and he understood what was being asked of him. So he took off, looking like little more than a speck on the air to anyone who wouldn't look too close. Roy watched him go, even as he sensed something and turned around to find a small group of people walking toward him. He didn't need that locator to know who they were. These were the metas spying on the Mercury soldiers.

"I'm a friend," he signed, before adding 'ARGUS.' The metas recognized this. One of them started signing, moving his hands with the rapidity of someone who was ready to fight back. Roy held up his hands, shaking his head. "I only know basic signs," he told them; Winn had told him it would save everyone some much needed time. The others sighed… a newbie agent. So Roy started to type at the band around his arm.

 _They have a weapon. We've seen what it can do. Don't act rashly._

The metas looked uncertain, staring back at him. He kept on typing.

 _There are three of them in this location. They are speedsters. Can any of you help my friend and I with something like that?_

The group looked to one another. From among them, a girl stepped forward, looking somewhere about seventeen or eighteen. Roy gave her a nod, both as greeting and as a query as to the source of her powers. In response, the girl disappeared. Roy blinked, before feeling someone tap at his shoulder. He turned and there was the girl, smiling proudly. Roy smiled back, holding out his hand to her. She gave it a shake.

Turning to the rest of them, Roy wrote to them that, once his partner returned, they would be able to come up with a plan, and they would all get to help out if they were ready. One look at their proud faces was enough to show that, yes, they were ready.

X

Though Barry would keep his flames out once they'd merge, he and Eobard remained separated until they approached the outpost and could see any of the Svarog soldiers. They needed to be subdued, needed to be removed, so that they could get to the agents, to the people they'd called in for support, that they may be brought in to help out there. There could well be grenades nearby, too. They weren't forgetting about those.

The main reason why they hadn't merged until now, of course, was the part where they really didn't know what would happen to Eobard once they did merge. If Barry couldn't hear his voice, then what would be left of him? There wasn't much of a way around it, and Eobard was not backing out from it, but that didn't make things any easier, did it?

But now here they were, the moment had come. They had to merge, and if they were going to be covert about this, until the time came to be very much _not_ covert, then they had to find a way to hide… somewhere.

When they both felt hands grip them at the wrists, they tensed, before they were turned around and came face to face with four men and women, one of them with his hand cupped over the low light it gave, so no one but them would see it.

Yellow light. They remembered this. It meant family, usually came in handy with finding a parent or child in a crowded place, so long as there weren't too many others doing the same thing. But protected this way, according to the Waverider crew, it meant something else. _Meta._ Like them. Both Barry and Eobard nodded. Their arms were released.

As Roy would explain to _his_ group, the two of them laid out the fact that they were connected with ARGUS, here to help, though with limited knowledge in the signs. This was followed with explanations of how they were here to take down the three with the fire, that if they could stop them without anyone finding out, then ARGUS and its people would be able to help. That was good enough to earn them some assistance.

First things first, they needed a place to merge. That required more explanation, too.

X

They had never been in the presence of other Horus soldiers, not once, back before they'd run off. Maybe that could explain why they hadn't realized what the girl was, when they'd brought her in for questioning. Now that they knew, now that they were looking for them, they had to wonder. Would they be able to sense them? And if they could… would the two of them out there sense _them_?

The silence didn't bother them, didn't change very much. Being near one another, they didn't need anything else really. They had never been so in tune with one another as they were these days, and here… it wouldn't take much more than a look.

What he was seeing in her was a lot of confusion, and maybe a feeling of being disappointed. They might not have known what they had within their grasp when they'd brought the girl in, but clearly she felt like she should have known, like if she had figured it out they could have gotten information out of her, found a way to put a stop to this before it ever got to this point. There was no changing what had happened now. They could only keep moving.

Finding the location had been easy, and so had finding the soldiers. They were in flight, like birds circling over the location of some prey. There was the one who'd gotten away from them, or… was it the other one? They looked so much alike… Gideon turned back to Rip, and he nodded. _Sisters_. They would have been soldiers, part of the resistance, before being recruited into Horus. They would have come along after the two of them had escaped…

They would seek out the metas prowling in the area, yes, but only so far as to tell them to stay behind. This one was going take place in the sky, soldier to soldier, hawk to hawk. It had to.

X

It was to no surprise that, in following the signal to the Neptune soldiers' location, Kara and Alexandra were forced to a stop, having reached a dock that led into the water. They looked at the undisturbed surface for a moment before Kara typed at her band. _They will know someone is there as soon as we touch the water._ Alexandra agreed with a nod.

No matter what they did, they would cause a disruption in the flow, and for what they knew of what happened to _these_ soldiers when they were transformed, they couldn't say for sure either of them wouldn't sense it. Maybe they could even see them up here.

 _Grenades?_ They'd all been taught how to sign that, although it had taken some interpretation. None of the Waverider crew or Seeker knew what the actual sign might be. When Alexandra signed it to her sister, Kara looked back to the water. She wanted to know, she _had_ to know if her powers would still work here, but this wouldn't be the time or place to find out. She strongly felt that they shouldn't tip their hand just yet as far as powers… if she still had any to show for herself.

 _Help?_ Kara asked, and Alexandra looked back the way they'd come. They hadn't run into any of these metas hanging about just yet, but they had to be around here…

Alexandra tapped her sister's arm all at once. She only had time to point to the mask around Kara's neck before something got hold of her ankle and pulled her into the water.

X

Winn had spent the last few days feeling like he was supposed to be helping by doing more than… what he had been doing instead. It wasn't as though his contribution had been pointless, but then he had to think that maybe things could have ended differently if he had been around instead of at a console on the Waverider.

But now here he was, trailing along with Stargirl, as the two of them went in search of the soldier from Titan project. It had surprised them to find out that there was only the one of him, but at the same time it suggested to them that, if he didn't need any sort of backup whatsoever, then…

"This is the leader, isn't it?" Winn signed. He got along a lot better than he would give himself credit for, where SQSL was concerned. He understood it all a lot better than he actually used it, too, which allowed Ava to respond to him freely.

"Of this group, I have no doubt. Overall, far from it." He guessed that was sort of what he'd meant to say, with his somewhat intermediate knowledge. "He might have this idea of himself that he is indestructible, that he can't be contained. That is exactly what we're going to do, to contain them, to apprehend them, to bring them back."

But what if it couldn't be done? What if he ended up winning the day after all? Could they really sacrifice so much?

They couldn't lose. That had to be their mentality. They were going to make it through this, and they would be fine. They would capture the Titan soldier, and the other soldiers. They would retrieve the grenades, Silent Quarter would be safe again, as would Haven, as would… Well, War wound find its rhythm again. And the rest of them… The rest of them wouldn't be headed into an encounter like this, with so little sleep to their names at the moment. Maybe they could go and help with Main Earth, or go to find their missing friends…

Ava stopped Winn as they neared the location, as a reflex, the alert made him shift his appearance, his skin taking on the shining metal color he was known for, as Steel stood at the ready for whatever would come their way.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	43. DAY 085 (vol 1, ch 43)

_Day 85 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 43_

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

Seeker's task was simple enough. She was to stay at the house, monitor the locator screen. If she spotted any movements important enough to notify their people in the field, she was keyed in to all their wrist bands, as they were with her, in case _they_ needed to signal an emergency. Depending on what happened next, she would need to find a way to them without drawing attention to herself, or a way to get help to them from some other source.

She could only see the metas, and this worried her plenty. They had four non-metas among the ten out there, one who went about in a teched up suit, one who wasn't human and much less meta, one who wielded a cosmic staff, and another who did her fighting with no power but the strength and skill in her body.

Now that she stood here, looking at her screen, she wished they had formed their teams, at the very least, with one meta in each. She couldn't see either of the 'SuperAtom' team. What if something happened to either of them, or Ava, or Alexandra? She looked to her band, but there was no message, no light flashing…

She looked out to the city. It was so quiet now, and not the kind that went without saying when you were in Silent Quarter. Everyone had been forced to do as they'd been told by those holding their city under siege. It felt a lot like the city in Main, everyone forced to keep out of the way with the breachers roaming about. Not everyone would listen back there, from what she'd heard, but then the people in _this_ city had the threat of that weapon hanging over their heads. Maybe it made them more willing to do as they were told.

Well, most of them. There were the metas, the ones they had spotted on the locator, clustered near the hit points of the soldiers. And then there was a man, sneaking about on his own. Seeker frowned, looking down to the screen. He didn't register, which meant he was neither a meta nor a breacher. He was just a human man without power, walking through his city, or to be more precise _sneaking_ through his city. Seeker sighed, pocketing the screen before making a cautious approach toward the man.

She reached him without his ever sensing her coming, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him out of view. He tensed up, froze, looking back at her.

"What are you doing, are you trying to get yourself killed?" she signed. He still stared. "It's okay, I'm not with them, I'm with ARGUS." He relaxed at once.

"You're an agent?" he asked, looking encouraged by this.

"I said I was with them. I'm not an agent, I'm more of a… contact. You can't be here."

"I have to do something," the man insisted. "I should have listened to the agents and stayed on the other Earth, but I wanted to bring my girls home, and now they might die because of my decision." She realized she'd heard about him, from Ava. She was the one who'd told him to stay back. With a sympathetic look, Seeker made him an offer.

"If we can get your girls, I will take the three of you back to Main. But you shouldn't be out there. Can we do that?" The man let out a breath and nodded. "Good, let's hurry."

X

It had all happened so fast. One second they were standing there together, and then her sister was being pulled into the water, out of view in no time… Kara felt an immediate fear surge in her, and if they had been anywhere else, the scream she let out, carrying her sister's name, might well have been heard well across the city.

There was no time to react, only to act. She tugged the mask into place, and then she went diving off the dock and into the water. Catherine Grant had not done things halfway. As soon as she'd jumped, she'd thought about what it would look down there. What if it was too dark, the deeper she had to go, what if she couldn't see… But when she'd hit the water the mask had responded at once. It not only helped her to breathe, it also helped her to see.

And what she saw was her sister being dragged away by a woman who looked somewhere between a human, a fish, a frog… Alexandra didn't have her mask on, she wouldn't be able to keep breathing very long, she was going to drown…

No… No, she wasn't. She couldn't.

It felt like the first time she'd used her power. She'd been afraid, backed into a corner, and she'd just… let go. And that was what she did, too. And again the mask came through for her, allowing her to generate the breath, and the cry that came with it. It burst out of her, sending the water all around her into such a turmoil that the fish woman lost her grip on Alexandra, and her sister started to sink.

Kara hurried after her, caught hold of her. Now that she knew that her power worked, she didn't waste time. She used it to push the two of them back up to the surface.

There was no sound to accompany the moment, but as soon as they'd broken past the surface, Alexandra had gasped, and coughed, and Kara held on tight, swimming them to the dock. This was bad. She'd saved her sister, yes, but now the Neptune soldiers would know people were out here, they could trigger an attack, they could…

As they reached the dock, Kara looked up to find four, no, five people standing there, ready to help them out of the water. She let them get Alexandra out, but after that she dove back under. She had to find them, had to stop them. Her power worked, she could get to them…

She sensed new disruptions in the water, and she watched as the small group from the dock jumped in to join her. Looking at all of them, Kara understood… Metas. More than that, metas with aquatic powers. They could all breathe here, they could help her. It was a good thing Seeker's SQSL lessons had finally started to sink in after a while. Six against two… that could work.

X

Agents Sharpe and Schott had known each other long enough, worked together back at ARGUS as much as on the Waverider, that they had gotten to this place where they knew how the other would act or think enough that it made figuring out how to respond to a situation simpler, faster. But there was so much at stake here, and so many ways it could go wrong. They needed to take extra care.

The lone soldier from Titan was out there, just close enough that they would be able to see him, see his face… He carried himself, unsurprisingly, like a soldier, but there was more to it than that. His posture was made bolder by the power he carried, thanks to the modifications he'd undergone. He had superiors out there, of course, but here and now, this was his operation, and he was not going to let anything or anyone get in the way.

For all that, it no longer mattered that he was alone. That foolhardy air about him, coupled with his strength and his stamina, with the access to the Mist weapon, easily made for the most worrisome sort of trouble they'd run into up to now. Who knew what the others were dealing with out there?

"We need to overwhelm him," Ava signed. Winn had been thinking the same thing. As to the manner of achieving it, the answer was right there, too, wasn't it? They had to find the metas. There had been a time where they would have been told not to use civilians, but then here they were with their heroes, and what was a hero if not someone who stepped up in times of trouble and danger?

Going off of what they'd seen on the map back at the house, they had a fair idea of where the metas should be, provided they hadn't attempted to move on the Titan already.

They hadn't moved yet, but by the looks of them when the two agents did find them, they had been seconds away from jumping into action. They froze when Ava and Winn approached them. Some of them were strangers, but some of them were familiar with the Waverider and its team, just as they were familiar with _them._ To see them here, now, in the middle of this situation, it flooded relief into them.

"We thought you weren't coming," one young man told them.

"We are here," Winn promised him. "All across the city." This was even better news.

"Join us so we can stop the invader," a woman stepped forward.

"That's what we're here to do," Ava told her. "But this man out there is not what he appears to be, and if you go in right now, you will be making a mistake." Quick as she could sign, Ava explained about the weapon, about the Titan soldier and what he was. "If we can somehow overwhelm him, keep his focus strained, we might have a chance at stopping him. Who here can help us accomplish this?"

X

When they'd stood facing one another, on the verge of clasping hands and becoming Firestorm, there was a tense weight in the air. Eobard Thawne had for the most part grown used to existing in the merged state, but he had to admit this one was giving him pause. Still, he looked to Barry standing in front of him, with confidence all over him. He would never have imagined how their lives would become so intertwined as they were now, when he'd first met him in his mother and Eobard's old friend's office.

Barry was holding his hand out to him. _Trust me_ , it said. So Eobard offering his own hand, and they merged.

For a few seconds, Barry stood there after the change, just… waiting to see what would happen. He couldn't talk, obviously, and as to his thoughts… It wasn't as though he could hear his own thoughts, the way he would hear anything else, so it was nothing out of the ordinary up to that point. That wasn't the part he was waiting to…

There was something. It wasn't a voice, but then he guessed it had never been before either, not exactly. But there was a feeling in him. He could feel Eobard's presence. So that was one thing, but what about communicating with him?

 _Eobard, are you okay?_ he thought, waited. It felt like the most awkward session of Ouija, waiting for the pointer to move to a yes or a no. As it turned out, this became more than a throwaway reference. He could feel something, like a rolling warmth down his right arm. _Was that you?_ he thought, and again there was the feeling in his right arm. _You can't speak._ He got the feeling again, in his left arm this time. Barry breathed, smiled. This was good, they had a system.

The metas – who'd brought them to cover so they could merge – were just watching him, still stunned by what they'd seen. But now that this was done, the priority once again became about liberating the outpost and apprehending the Svarog trio. Barry kept thinking about what Seeker had told them, about how she couldn't get into the outpost with her ability. But then what if they could find another way?

They didn't know for sure that the ones inside wouldn't be trying to come up with their own plan, but it seemed like they had to be. They couldn't just be in there, sitting in wait of a rescue. If they could get in, then maybe…

He had a thought all at once, and it felt so strong that maybe Eobard had thought about it at the same time, too. There might just have been a way to remove the soldiers cleanly, swiftly. Although this time around they weren't all in one place… and they weren't the only ones of their quarter in the area. But it had to be worth a shot, this device they'd heard about, the one that lifted all those Desert breachers back to their city…

They could send the project soldiers back to War.

They'd be gone, and they could be dealt with… and unless they carried the grenades on themselves, then _those_ could be dealt with without the threat of their being deployed.

They really needed to find a way into the outpost and fast…

X

Flying his miniscule self to where he could get a good look at the speedsters from Project Mercury, Mike did not miss the rushing speeds of his flight with Superman, but having lived through that experience – imperative word here being _lived_ – it did sort of have that unfortunate side effect that his own regular flight speed, which was considerably slower and then some, now felt as though he was a snail… a flying snail… He wasn't far from being the right size at this point.

Finally, he had gotten close enough where he could discreetly watch the first of the speedsters. This one was a young woman. It wasn't as though she had the words 'I have the power to run so fast, you can't even imagine' written across her face, but somehow it _was_ there, in her face, in the way she carried herself. But there was something more to it, something like the whole thing was little more than a mask… and she was working so hard to keep it in place.

Making another flight, he had gotten out to where the second speedster stood in position. This one was a man, not much older than the woman, although something about him felt older, felt weaker. If he had a mask of his own, he didn't wear it so easily as the woman did. There was what felt like a rising concern in him, something that pulled his focus more than he'd care to admit.

The last one, this one… He looked like he was hanging on by a thread. He looked like he barely believed in his power anymore, or he was resigned to something… and it wasn't good. But like the other two, whatever he was feeling, he was holding his ground, he was doing his job. All Mike could think was 'the pay must be really good,' which felt weird to him, but then what could he do except hold to that thought as he flew back to rejoin Superman.

Roy was not alone when Mike returned, growing to his normal size to come and stand with him. He had a pretty good idea who these people were, and he really wished he could just talk and explain what he had seen back there. It was going to take a while to go through it all.

Once he'd finished, telling Roy and his new friends about the eager woman, the old young man, and the weak but determined man, it felt like he could see the big picture a bit better, even as Roy seemed to get it, too. Slade _had_ told them someone had told him Mercury had never managed to replicate the change he'd gone through. What they were realizing here was maybe these three weren't nearly as strong as they'd like people to think. That could be good. It could help to stop them.

X

Rip and Gideon had found the metas who'd gathered in this area, drawn to the presence of the two Horus girls. They had done their best to explain to them what they were dealing with and why they should opt to stay back and let the two of them handle it. There was some hesitation, but eventually they had agreed not to get involved.

As they'd started to walk off, hopefully to return home, Gideon had turned to him, so they might decide on what to do next. But Rip was still looking down the street, and when she looked, too, Gideon saw what he saw. A small boy remained, hiding but staring back at them. They approached slowly, so not to spook him. Finally, they came to crouch in front of him.

"You need to go home," Rip signed, giving the boy a reassuring smile.

"I can't," the boy replied. "I have to wait for Mom."

"Where is she?" Gideon asked. The boy grew hesitant. He didn't want to get his mother in trouble… and now they knew where she'd gone. She was going to take on the Horus soldiers.

They couldn't just leave the boy there on his own, but if they didn't go, they might not be able to prevent his mother from being killed. The best they could do was to get the boy to hide and tell him that a friend would come to look after him. After that, they sent out a message to Seeker, asking her to come find the boy, before moving back to where they might see the soldiers and, maybe more importantly, to where they might spot the boy's mother.

She was good, they had to hand her that. _They_ spotted her sneaking around, but they knew that with the care she took not to be seen, the Horus soldiers wouldn't have spotted her… at least they hoped they were seeing the situation properly.

More importantly, the woman wasn't doing her sneaking by walking around, no. She had wings. They weren't the same as Rip or Gideon or the soldiers' wings, no. Theirs were birds' wings; the woman had wings more reminiscent of insects, allowing her to flit about and use the buildings near her as cover, the closer she went toward the two invaders to her city.

Rip looked to Gideon, even as she looked to him. They had to get to her. The reflex would be to then get her back to her son and take this on by themselves as they had intended, but they recognized a drive like this when they saw it. They might be able to convince her to leave…

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	44. DAY 087 (vol 1, ch 44)

_Day 87 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 44_

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

 **SOMEWHERE**

John Diggle had been keeping an eye on that house for the last few hours, and what he'd observed thus far simply defied understanding. Whatever he'd known before getting mixed up in this reality of two Earths, of various quarters, this place exceeded it all.

After he'd tracked Palmer, Heywood, Wells, Stein, and Star here, he'd gotten the impression that he had best not rush into the house, even as he watched the five of them go through the door. So, he waited, and he watched. He had some equipment on him. One of those he could use to scan the house for heat signatures, for people.

He had followed the five of them on his screen, as they walked through the house. Soon he was left to see that there was only one other person inside. The others had gone to meet said person, and not five minutes later, the kidnappers walked back out of the house. They stood there for a few moments, and then a breach opened and carried them away.

Only one of him out here and the stranger on the inside. He could have left then, but he followed a hunch and stayed. He stayed, until at some point the single heat signature inside… blinked out. They were gone, and John could only suppose they had opened a breach, too, if the walking motion that preceded their disappearance was any indication.

He would search the house. That was the plan, and he'd still been working through his course of action when something happened that caught his attention. On his screen, a new presence blinked into existence, not walking this time but rather falling. And, following this, one more signature blinked into being, not walking, not falling, just sort of… standing? Crouching?

There was another. And another. And another, and then one more that almost swallowed up the others for its width. He had no idea what it was, not at first, but he did observe where these people had appeared: in a space that hadn't registered until a moment ago. The more he watched, John knew what he was seeing, and he stood up at once.

It was them. Wallace West, and Zari Tomaz, and the rest of them, the ones he'd been asked to find. He'd found them.

X

They might actually have been in serious danger of being so stunned that they missed their window and ended up still stuck in that room. But how could they not be at least a bit stunned? Ronnie had his powers again. He'd just thrown Mag like she was some boulder and she _hadn't_ been flattened like a pancake before sliding to the floor, dead and no closer to getting them out. No, she'd crashed through that thing like it was nothing.

She was fine, and the way was open for them to escape.

Ronnie stretched his way up to join Mag, sweeping broken glass shards away for a moment and instructing the alien woman to hold on to him so he wouldn't fall before he reached down and brought the others up one by one, first Zari, then Wallace, then Kendra, and finally Carter.

Again, they were stalled by what they were seeing. This would be the place where they all stood, watching them in that room. This was where Mag would sense them. There really was nothing here for them to use as information, as help. They needed to get out of there, no matter how much a part of them wanted to search around. The sooner they were out, the sooner they could get back to their people, and then… then they could consider how best to deal with Vandal and his lackeys.

"How do we know if any of this is real? Or that there are no other tricks?" Kendra asked them.

"I still have my powers, so no dampeners out here," Ronnie looked around.

"I don't see any of set up like we had in the room before Mag broke it, but I guess there's still a chance there could be something here," Zari reached out a tentative hand to the wall. It didn't shock her or do anything else that a wall shouldn't do, but they all deserved their need for precaution, didn't they?

"We need weapons," Carter spoke, and this much they agreed on. If they could find anything, it wouldn't be in this room, so, with ongoing hesitation, they approached the door.

It opened, no tricks, no fake-outs, and they all let out a breath and tried not to feel stupid about the fear they'd just expressed over a door.

The door had opened on to a corridor, the walls on either side lined with more closed doors.

"I swear I saw a horror movie just like this…" Zari muttered.

"What do you think we've been living in all this time?" Wallace looked at her.

"Fair point."

"Are there more rooms like our room through those?" Ronnie wondered, staring at the nearest door to them. They all shared a look. Mag stepped up to the door, turned the knob, pushed it in and stepped away at once. They looked in.

The room was empty.

"I really don't care that it was sort of anticlimactic," Ronnie decided.

The search for weapons, and, frankly, the unescapable curiosity after being cooped up all this time, some longer than others, led to their opening all the other doors they walked past. Each one led to nothing more than another empty room.

"Okay, I don't need to see the rest, let's just get out of here," Zari decided as they reached the top of the stairs that would lead them to the ground floor.

The six escaping captives climbed down, one behind the other, looking around as they went, waiting for something to go wrong at every turn. But the closer they got to the ground floor, something they found here stalled them where they stood, and it was no object. All the rooms upstairs had heavy shades drawn over the windows, keeping the world beyond this house hidden from view. If there were shades here, curtains, anything, they were wide open, and they let in the vibrant colors of a sunset. They couldn't even really breathe the air and yet it felt like they could. They took a deep breath… it was almost over.

That was precisely the kind of sentiment that generally led to trouble, wasn't it?

The first warning came in the increasingly familiar sound of electricity crackling that seemingly followed Livewire where she went. They turned to find her standing there, next to Lily, and Lyra, and the two guys with their big guns.

"What do we have here?" Lily asked, laying a hand to Jesse's arm, silently counseling her to turn down the sparks. Jesse stared back at her, frowned, but the electricity died away. "You actually busted out. I'm impressed."

"If you don't mind, I have a girl to see about a broken nose," Lyra tried to make a move on them, sending the six on the stair case to reach for the ramp before the world stopped turning. Again, Lily had called for one of her partners to stand down. It wasn't taken much better here, but Lyra decided to go on the side of patience… She could break whatever she liked when the time finally came.

"We're leaving," Carter told them.

"No one asked you, Rags," Jesse shook her head.

"Now, now, they've made it this far," Lily kept to that calm, courteous voice that only frustrated the escapees. "The door is this way," she pointed over her shoulder. "I'm sure that smart, strong heroes like yourselves, who already made it out of that room back there won't have any problem getting past the five of us and through that door," she beamed. "Look, there are already more of you than there are of us, it'll be easy. Go on. No powers, no weapons…"

"Yeah, that didn't turn out to be so true the last time, did it?" Zari asked, tapping the tip of her nose, staring back at Lyra. She nearly fell off her feet before Kendra caught her because of it, but it was worth it, wasn't it?

"I guess you're right," Lily grinned. "Why deny who we are? How would you like to see what I can do?"

"I've seen it, no, thanks," Carter leapt over the banister at this. He didn't have his rags, but he was still from War, and he could fight just fine on his own.

His jump had been as good as a starting pistol. In no time, Kendra had mimicked him with a jump of her own. Mag, who'd been the first in line, jumped the last three steps. Ronnie stretched and slithered off to join them. Zari and Wallace were left on the steps, looking for an opening. They wanted to help, but they had been trained all their lives, either by an upbringing in War, or a father like Joseph West, to know that simply rushing wasn't everyone's style. Instead, watching, waiting… it could make all the difference.

The five standing in their way did not do with waiting. They launched in at once, using whatever was at their disposal, from powers to weapons to fighting. They wanted to rope in their captives on the loose… Their captives had something else in mind. They had been in that room long enough to know what the five of them were capable of, and if any of them was still conscious enough to come after them, they wouldn't make it out. They had to stop them, knock out the metas, get the big guns out of the equation and those who wielded them, too.

Carter and Kendra had teamed up easily, squaring off against the two men whose names they still didn't know. Mag found herself facing Jesse and the electricity snaking over her body, while Lily faced off with Ronnie. And Lyra… well, she really wasn't going to get over Zari breaking her nose, leaving her and Wallace to grapple for balance.

"Are you really that vain?" Zari asked, eyes squeezed shut. "So I broke your nose? You've had me locked up in that room for four days, _do you know what that's like?_ "

The hold Lyra had on the two of them seemed to snap like a thread. After a moment, Zari and Wallace both opened their eyes to find the blonde staring back at them, her face pulled into a frown that shook with conflict.

Then she turned and moved to tag team with Jesse as she fought with Mag, leaving the two on the steps confused at once but maybe curious, too.

Mag had learned from her last tussle with the girl. She was no more human than she was, but she very much thought like one. Mag knew she could keep herself from being shocked out of consciousness if she was careful, and so far she'd been managing it, but when Lyra jumped in to help her teammate, it wouldn't be long that they'd find a way to overpower her and she knew it. She couldn't let it happen. They had to get out of here, they…

The front door burst open, with so much force that it startled all of them into stopping and looking to where, framed in sunset, a man stood, his face hidden behind a mask. The weapons on him may not have shot fire or ice, but they would make quick work of anyone standing in his way, that much was for sure.

"Deathstroke…" Wallace mumbled, and Zari looked down at him before looking back to the man.

"That's him?" she asked, as though it wasn't evident already. If there was ever a guy suited for a name like Deathstroke, this would be him.

There was a moment where the meta girls and the gun guys looked to one another, and in the next they reached over, all laying hands on Jesse's shoulders, her arms… And then there was a flash of light, and they were gone, snaking through an outlet.

"That's it?" Ronnie blinked, looking around, baffled. He wasn't the only one, but right then it didn't matter so much as the thing that had been driving them before they'd shown up. Escape…

But then there still remained the matter of this Deathstroke guy. From what Wallace had told them, the man had worked with his father before and was, therefore, possibly, one more obstacle. Only, was he? He'd shown up and scared away their captors, so that had to make him a good guy? He'd been tasked to find them, and that had to be a sign, too. But what did they know anymore?

"Come on," he said, peeling his mask off to show his face. "Let's get you out of here." The others looked to Wallace, like he would be the one to decide.

"Are you working for my father?" he asked.

"Kid, for all I may have done, even I have my limits. Whatever your father has for limits, they were beyond my own, do we understand each other?"

"Okay, let's go," Wallace nodded, and with no more need to wait, the captives shuffled off toward the door and stepped out into the gaining darkness.

Breathing that fresh air, really breathing it, it was enough to make anyone dizzy and happy after so long without it. Now that they stood out here, it felt like whatever quiet vow they'd made with themselves to ignore certain things could not be ignored any longer. For one, they stank… Some more than others, of course. When it came down to it, Carter and Kendra had only been here for something like half a day, but between the stress, and the wait, and the escape…

"Where are we going now?" Ronnie asked. Cait… he had to get back to her… Maybe he could call her on the way.

"ARGUS. I have a shortcut."

X

Jesse had taken them up the stairs and into one of the empty rooms. As they took form again, she tried not to laugh at how unsettled they were by _her_ mode of transportation… she really did try.

"What's the matter, get charged up?" she laughed.

"Never again…" Nate declared, looking like he was about to be sick.

"Fine by me," Jesse shrugged, leaning against one the wall.

"So… what now?" Lyra asked. They all looked from one to another.

"Now we make sure not to mess this up. If we have it right, then letting them all go will have been worth it. If not… well, it's been fun knowing you guys… some of you," Lily declared.

"We _were_ going to let them go eventually anyway, when the time was right. Let's make sure the time _was_ right," Raymond shrugged.

"Are we still doing this together, or are we taking it back us against you?" Jesse asked, gesturing to the girls and then the guys.

"Depends… What happens to the losers?" Nate asked.

"What, do you want a fruit basket or something?" Lily crossed her arms before herself, smirking. Was this actually happening? Were they becoming… friends? With _those_ guys? And were _they_ warming up to them, too? No, no way… Well…

They _had_ all been thrown together in this, the last few days, had shared confusion about some of the things they had to do, could not do, didn't want to do… They'd tended to one another… And it was only when they'd teamed up that they'd gotten as close as they had to their goal. Whatever they were or were not, they all felt some pull to the thought of 'credit where credit is due,' or something to that effect.

"It'll be over sooner if we keep going all together, I guess," Lyra said what they'd all been trying to say without sounding like the one to concede.

"Sounds good to me," Raymond took it at once, as did the others.

"We should clear out of here before Vandal returns," Jesse suggested.

"No. If we just leave, he comes back to find his prisoners gone, and then we're the ones who let them escape," Nate shook his head.

"We _did_ let them escape," Lyra reminded him. "Not from the room, but from the house, we did. But I get what you're saying. I agree, we should wait."

"If we get killed for this, whatever afterlife you believe in, I will find you there and shock your souls," Jesse sighed. The guys shared a look.

"I think that was a compliment?" Raymond wondered aloud.

"It really wasn't," Lily guessed, too.

So, they went back to the room where they had stood so many times, observing the prisoners. The state they found it in, with the glass everywhere, the gaping hole leading into a bare room that looked nothing like it had done the last time they'd been here… This was not going to go well.

They waited a half hour before a breach opened and deposited Vandal Savage to find them packed on the one couch that wasn't covered in glass shards and dust, looking like kids waiting for their parents to come home after throwing a party they weren't supposed to and now having to show how much their friends had wrecked the place. After the thinly veiled threat following Raymond and Nate's capture at ARGUS, they really expected this to be the end.

But, once again, they were sent to carry on. They were strongly advised – the threats under a veil so thin this time it might have been made of air – to finish what they'd started as quickly as possible. Vandal didn't bother sticking around after this. They knew where they'd find him, should they complete their task.

Left to themselves again, they looked to one another before standing. Raymond opened the breach this time, and they left as a group, ready to finish this job.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	45. DAY 089 (vol 1, ch 45)

_Day 89 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 45_

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

They'd been on their way to the man's home when the message had come in from Gideon. There was a small boy, stranded in hiding, and they'd had to leave him there to go and deal with the Horus soldiers. They needed her to go to him, get him to safety. When Seeker explained this to the man, she expected him to want nothing except to keep going, to get to his daughters. But as soon as he'd heard about the boy, there had been no question for him.

"Where is he?" the man asked. When Seeker told him where they were supposed to have left the child, he informed her that he knew where it was and how to get there without being seen… he hoped. That would have to do.

So, off they'd gone, and with the man's guidance, they reached the boy. He was hiding, but Seeker crouched to get at his eye level. He didn't let her out of his sight, hiding or not, and so she started to sign, explaining how they were friends of the winged people. At this, the boy looked ready to retreat, so she specified she was with the ones who'd gone to help his mother.

"We have to get away from here," Seeker told him. "We can take you to safety." The boy shook his head. "No?" Seeker asked.

"I have to wait for Mom," his little hands told her. He looked up, and Seeker and the man did, too. In the distance, they could see the Horus soldiers, and nearer to them there were Rip and Gideon, along with a woman who had to be the boy's mother. She had insect wings and it reflected in her flight. Looking back to him, they knew the boy would not follow them, not like this. The man came down to the boy's eye level, too.

"Your mom told you to hide, didn't she?" he asked. The boy nodded. "She wants you to be safe." Again, he nodded. "Her friends will know where to find us, where to find you. You'll be safe, more than you are out here. Will you come with us?" The boy looked like he wanted to, but he couldn't leave his mother. He still looked up to her.

When they looked, too, they saw a small light flashing on the woman's arm in the distance. Yellow. _Family_. She was telling him to go with them. With lingering hesitation, the boy stepped up to Seeker. She picked him up, and they were off, sneaking back toward the man's home and his waiting daughters.

X

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

 **ARGUS HEADQUARTERS**

Thanks to their new Silent friends, Firestorm had found a way to sneak into the outpost. Once inside, once they had proven not to be in league with the trio outside, they had been taken to the outpost director. One rapid written explanation later, they were on their way back to Main.

It was just a pit stop, they had to go right back, but there was no ignoring the fact that this was the first time they were here since this had all began. They were here to see Laurel Lance, but when they saw Cait, sitting at her station, the two men split apart at once, catching her eye in the process. She gasped, smiling as she got up and hurried toward them, throwing one arm around each of them.

"It's so good to see you," she breathed as they hugged her back.

She had to return to her station as Laurel came to meet them. They told her about what was happening in Silent Quarter, asked if they might be able to use her device out there the way they'd been hearing it had been used to send back the Desert breachers.

"They were in a localized position, this sounds like you've got targets all over the city." She paused, thinking for a moment. "I might have something, but it won't work exactly the same, just… follow me."

Luckily for Barry, Eobard, and potentially the whole of Silent Quarter, after Samantha Arias had shared her idea, Laurel had kept on thinking, kept on tinkering, and now she was able to put a smaller, hand-held version of her device in the care of Firestorm.

"You'll need to get close, think no more than ten feet, preferably less, because the further away you are, the wider it'll cast the beam. I'll set it for you… These breachers, they're from War, right?" They nodded, and she set the device for War Quarter. "You have anyone else from War out there?"

"Uh, Rip, Gideon," Barry counted on his fingers, "Seeker… That's it." He'd almost said Kara, associating her so much to the place before he remembered she was actually from Haven.

"Right, so if the beam hits them, _they'll_ get sent back into War, too. You might also want to give a heads up to some friends out there so they can go and collect what you send back, otherwise you'll be moving them but they'll be able to get away and come back. We good?"

They were all set. They'd had an idea, and they were still feeling like they'd hit a miracle to have it actually work out… in theory. Now they needed their first miracle to pay up with a second.

Crossing back into Silent and their outpost, Barry and Eobard became Firestorm once again. Knowing they could still communicate had helped to settle their concerns. They were optimistic, and that was a good thing, because they were about to do something potentially very stupid.

Two minutes later, they shot out into the sky over the outpost. As they'd hoped, the three Svarog soldiers looked up as one, following their flight path until they landed outside the gates.

In his head, all Barry could think was _come on… come on…_ He had the device hidden in his hand, waiting… waiting… When they came barrelling toward him, getting closer and closer to one another, he knew his moment was there. He flew at them, turned out the device and opened the beam.

The trio froze in place, their flames still wrapped at their arms… and then they were gone.

Barry breathed deep, smiling. _One down, four to go._

X

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**

The message they'd received via the outpost had been vague at best. They'd been given a location and were told to be 'ready for incoming.' So they went to the location, M'gann, and J'onn, and Patty and Rene. And they waited, looking around for whatever this 'incoming' was.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light… and two women and a man with fire-wreathed arms appeared, disoriented, wavering…

They recognized a small window when they saw one. Patty pulled out the tranquilizers she'd packed before leaving Stein Labs. She knew better than to event try to get near them. One, two, three, the Svarog soldiers went down.

"We need to get them somewhere, lock them up and make sure they won't burn their way out."

"If we're going to get any more of these, we better make it quick, too," Rene told her.

"Let's bring them back to Stein Labs, Doctor Stein will see to them. Right now, we need to keep them away from ARGUS and out of sight. News might find a way of reaching their people still in Silent and we can't risk that.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER**

The way they saw it, the only way they would manage to overpower the Mercury soldiers would be to take them down in decreasing order of strength. They had to handle the healthiest one first, or else she would get in their way when they moved on the others. Superman would take care of her. If she took off, he could match her and follow her, could probably surpass her, going from what they knew of these soldiers.

Within their group of Silent metas they may not have had speedsters, but they had a few people who would be able to bring one to a stop long enough to restrain them. They would go after the middling one. That left the last, the one who looked like a race car on its last mile. The Atom would handle this one.

They would hit one after the other. As soon as Roy would speed at the woman, whether she saw him and forced him to chase her or he actually managed to stop her before she realized he was coming, it didn't matter. As soon as they saw him take off, they were to count three seconds and go, the metas on the ground, and the Atom in flight.

The woman did turn her head, a crack of energy showing her intent to run, but as Superman had hoped, she may have been the fastest of the trio, but she was not as fast as him. He had her down in no time. Even as this was happening, the metas had put the combination of their powers to work, bringing the man down and unable to run. As for the last one, as soon as he saw Mike sail up to meet him, he didn't even try and fight back. It was over in all of a minute.

They were still trying to figure out what to do with the trio when Firestorm came sneaking their way. He saw that they had gotten a handle on their people and he nodded in congratulations before motioning for them to put them together and step back. He showed them something in his hand but didn't try and explain what it was. Instead, he showed them. He sent the trio back to War Quarter, restrained and not about to run, where his retrieval team would be ready and waiting.

"What is that?" Mike wrote on his band, which had to somehow be made to fit over his suit.

"Return to sender," Firestorm grinned, writing back, before signalling that they should keep going to the next group.

X

As Alexandra Danvers had started feeling a bit less panicked by her near drowning, she'd looked to the water. She could see it churning, knew that somewhere in there her little sister would be trying to get control of those two Neptune soldiers, along with the metas who'd come to their aid, to _her_ aid, when she'd been about to drown. She barely remembered what had happened in there, except now here she was, her throat rough but otherwise fine.

She couldn't just sit here. She tugged on her mask, made sure it was secure, then jumped back into the water.

What she came to find were a handful of metas who, aquatic powers or no, were no match for the soldiers trained to use their transformations and use them for combat despite the fact that there would be no one for them to fight with those same abilities. In this case, it more than worked in their favor at first, as they had already neutralized most of the other metas.

Kara, in the meantime, was doing her best to put the duo down, unleashing cries that sent the water in motion, though none of it appeared to bother the soldiers here. They were smiling, both of them. They should probably have been communicating to their teammates, triggering an attack, but they were enjoying this too much.

That turned out to be their downfall, as they were so focused on Kara and the metas that they never saw _her_ coming. This was hardly the place where she would get an actual fight, but she still managed to stun them, leaving her to grab one, while Kara took the other. They pulled them from the water while the metas looked after their own.

They were still wringing water out of their hair and clothes when Firestorm, Superman, and the Atom came hurrying up. They motioned for the sisters to move out of the way, and they did, even as the Neptune soldiers looked like they were coming around and were about to break free. Even as Kara and Alexandra got hold of them, Firestorm threw his arm up and activated the beam.

As before, the soldiers froze and disappeared. But then there was Kara.

For a moment, she looked like she was freezing up, too, and Barry startled. It couldn't take her, she wasn't _from_ War, unless… unless it had become so much a part of her that she read as War born? No, that couldn't… They couldn't hear her, but she looked like she was in pain, and Alexandra was already reaching to support her as the Neptune soldiers completely disappeared and Kara didn't. They all gathered around her, concerned.

"I'm okay," she would sign a few times, nodding. Her sister was looking at her. "I'm okay," she signed again, smiling. Alexandra smiled back, too. Her sister had saved her life back there…

X

The woman with the insect wings had been just as confused as the outpost agents when they'd seen Firestorm. She saw two people with wings just like the women she was intending to go after, so she'd assumed they were just two more of that group and she'd been found. But then… no… she'd heard of them, they were the ones she, like others, had at first thought to be the good guys, until they'd received that message, the announcement of the siege and its rules… Those two women were not the good guys.

But Rip and Gideon were most certainly that, and beyond that, they had secured protection for her son… She was ready to do whatever they said, this was their call. For what they knew of the Horus soldiers, they would not give _her_ a moment's notice, not once they saw Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Those two would be all the target they cared about. And that was fine… it might distract them long enough that the woman could get in and make a move.

The plan rapidly changed, as soon as they moved in on the two sisters from Project Horus.

Rip and Gideon had known sneaking wouldn't be the way. Instead, they had to go up there and be proud of who they were, what they were. They had to appeal to that part of who they were… the instincts…

If they got through this fight, they'd come out of it with ruffled feathers, bent feathers, missing… They'd have scratches, some thinner, some really not… There would be blood, on either side.

When Firestorm and the rest of them showed up, it became clear that they needed to do something quick, or else there'd be no one left to return, for either side. So he took off into the sky, aimed the beam at the unsuspecting quartet, and sent them all back to War before rejoining the team to move onward. They had one location left.

In War, when the four flying soldiers would come out of the shock, made all the more startling by the passage from the silence to cacophony. It was all the Hawks of the Waverider needed to show just which generation of Horus had the upper hand.

X

Neither Ava nor Winn could know that it now all came down to them and the man they'd been observing. He was the last of the special project soldiers left in Silent. Once he was gone…

As with all the others before them, dealing with the various projects, the key would be the element of surprise. If they lost that, there would be no coming back from it. They could still win, sure, but there would be more blood, more pain, and it would generally belong to those who'd stood to fight by their side. They had to hold on to their surprise.

The plan seemed easy enough. Overwhelm the Titan soldier until they could get him locked down. It didn't matter that he thought he had the upper hand, they had to be smarter than him. What he had on his side, more than anything, was brute force. They had to come at him with strategy.

The metas went about their overwhelming of the Titan, like harmony, if such a thing could be said here in Silent. It was enough to make the two agents wonder what it would have been like in a place where there was sound.

For now, what mattered was that they were able to come up to him, Stargirl ready to strike him with the power of her staff, as Steel came up to restrain the man. When the Titan saw him come up, there was a look on his face, a seething need to stand up and show that he was stronger.

Winn knocked him upside the head. Just one blow and he was down and out. If that was to be the extent of his physical contribution to this whole thing, he had to say, he could deal with it.

X

The boy had been casually playing with the younger girl and the older girl, though mostly there was little playing and more of their telling the boy all about their time on Main. It proved difficult. They had to try and explain things to him with signs, with _words_ they had no concept of back here. But they found ways, and the boy looked completely fascinated.

Seeker watched the three of them, as did the girls' father. They were good, happy and safe, just inside the house the team had used to cross in from War.

When the team did return, with Barry, Eobard, Mike, Roy, Kara, Alexandra, Winn, and Ava, Seeker asked where the Hawks were, and Ava explained that they'd be meeting them back in War. She also noticed there was something going on with Kara, like she was just a bit confused, but she hid it well.

Along with the group there had come the woman with the insect wings. When her son saw her, he leapt to his feet and ran into her waiting arms, excitedly signing back the stories he'd just been getting from the two girls. They could well have plenty of stories to share for some time, the five of them together.

As to the group, their work was not over. The soldiers were gone, yes, but there would be the grenades to locate, to pack away safely for their return to War and their destruction.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	46. DAY 091 (vol 1, ch 46)

_Day 91 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 46_

 **BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

Once the first of the soldiers had been returned to them, there'd been no chance to stop. No sooner had they brought the sedated Svarog soldiers into Stein Labs and left them in the hands of Doctor Stein and Harrison Wells that they needed to go back again, as they were alerted to the arrival of the speedsters from Mercury. They, too, were taken back to the labs, and then the ones out of Neptune came next…

When they were told that the Horus soldiers had been transferred back to War after that, they'd also been advised that they were to be left for Hawkman and Hawkgirl to deal with. They had it covered. So, they had gone in wait of the Titan. They found their sleeping giant – unconscious, at least – right where they'd been told they would find him, and they carried him back, as covertly as the others before him, even though the fight between the four winged ones was bound to draw some attention.

Arriving back at Stein Labs with the Titan, they discovered the containment area they had managed to put together. The Svarog were together in one cell, conscious again and attempting without success to use their fire to break out. In the speedsters' cell, the girl was like an animal caught in a trap, trying to get out. The first man was trying to vibrate his way out. The second man just sat on the ground, defeated. The Neptune soldiers had more of a tank than a cell, and as satisfied as they were with their conditions, they continued to glare daggers at whoever dared to meet their eye.

The Titan was deposited in his own cell, reinforced to ensure that he wouldn't be able to quite literally break through. All that remained now was the empty cell that would welcome the two Horus soldiers.

These came a few minutes later, with Rip and Gideon carrying in the pair, looking like they'd brought the visual in a statement of 'you should see the other guy.' By the time they'd gotten the two women inside and the cell had been secured, it looked like the strength was very close to leaving them, so they were led back to where they might lie down – aided by the aliens and agents of their retrieval team - and let Stein and Wells attend to them.

That was what the team who'd gone to Silent with the Hawks came to find as they returned to the labs. Doctor Stein had quickly zeroed in on Kara, both relieved to find her safely returned but also concerned for how dazed she looked.

"What happened to her?" he asked the others, her sister in particular.

"The device Laurel Lance gave me, to send the soldiers back here," Barry explained, holding it up. "She was close to the Neptune people when I hit them with the beam. It wasn't supposed to affect her, but for a second there it looked like she was being pulled back here like them."

"I'm fine," she insisted, attempting to prove this by pulling away from leaning against her sister to stand on her own. She still looked like she would have stayed right as she was before if her wellness hadn't been challenged, but she did stand on her own just fine.

"Well, just to put us all at ease, why don't you sit down for a while," Doctor Stein told her, taking her hand and giving her a nod. She had never seen him quite so open about showing what she might have suspected he felt under that gruff exterior he usually had. Maybe everything with Lily was forcing him to reconsider a few things.

Kara decided to appease him, and her sister, and Seeker, and any other concerned eyes looking her way. The fact was she really felt strange, ever since that beam had hit her. She couldn't explain how it had felt, but since then she'd been feeling off, and she couldn't explain why.

"Are the others back? Have you heard from them?" she asked, not seeing Evelyn, or… "Where's Laura?"

"She went with her, with Evelyn, to meet with the general," M'gann told her.

"She did what?" Kara moved to stand, then thought better of it. "No, she can't go in there, it's too dangerous…" Her heart was going a mile a minute, thinking about Laura… and Eliot… Her whole world for all those years, her parents… He was already dead and she'd never gotten a chance to see him again, and now if anything happened to Laura…

"Kara, hey…" Alexandra moved to her sister's side, taking both her hands. "Look at me, it's okay, I'm sure they'll be alright."

"How long have they been gone?" Seeker asked Stein and Wells.

"We haven't made contact, but we knew going in that it might take a while for the general to agree to see them, and until they were allowed in, the others couldn't go either. We are tracking them, it's the best we have for now," Stein pointed to a screen. "They went in only twenty minutes ago."

"Then let's give them some more time before rushing in," Ava advised. "If it comes to it, we will go and get them out of there."

"Do you have entry points in the base?" Winn asked Seeker.

"I might have had one thanks to Jax breaching in, but he didn't leave War, so wherever the hole he created for me leads, I don't know where it'll be, in which quarter," she explained, then, "If I can get close to the base, I might be able to feel it out, but I can't make any promises."

"That's good enough for me," Eobard nodded.

"And me," Barry joined him. Everyone was ready to go if the need came. That was the good part. But until they knew for sure they had to move in, all they could do was wait, and watch the screen.

X

 **RESISTANCE ARMY BASE**

 **SPECIAL PROJECTS WING**

Jax couldn't help but feel some small pressure as they'd landed themselves in this place. Sure, it looked like there was no one around and they'd be able to do… whatever it was they needed to do, but then all he could think was… what if they didn't? What if they didn't find anything in here that could prove what they believed? Nothing short of hard evidence would keep the people of War from tearing each other and their city to pieces.

They'd arrived outside any of the dedicated areas for the individual projects. The first thing they'd seen as they came through were the words written on the wall announcing that this was indeed the special projects wing, with the symbols of Mercury, Horus, Neptune, and Titan. The spot where the Svarog symbol had once hung was left bare, almost like a reminder of what had been and what it had become.

"Are we supposed to break into the enemy aligned's base after this?" he wondered, whispering as they advanced. "To look for evidence of the fire metas?"

"Maybe. But let's get through this one first," Rory whispered back.

"Here," Nyssa motioned for them to follow. They'd come across an office. There was no identification on the door, but they guessed this might have been the office for whoever was in charge of the projects.

Surveillance had already been dealt with, but locked doors invited the chance that they might leave a sign of their presence, too. Jax took care of this, breaching them in again.

Whoever called this office theirs, they gave off an immediate sense of being someone organized, minimal but polished. It made Jax think he would do well to look very carefully at the objects he'd pick up, so that he would be able to put them back down exactly as they'd been found. This person would notice if something was even an eighth of an inch out of place, that was the sense he got, and the others weren't far behind him on it.

"We need to be methodical about this, leave no stone unturned, but no need to pick around blindly," Nyssa counseled them, and they agreed. She went to the cabinets, while Rory examined the shelves. Jax went to the desk. There was very little there, on the surface at least. There was a computer screen, but for the time being he left it alone, focusing on the drawers instead.

Each one he opened felt like more of the same impression. Clean things, everything in its place. There was nothing in here, nothing that would help them… until he opened the bottom drawer. Nothing here had appeared useful either, and he'd been able to close it, when the motion of the drawer gave an object inside a rattle. Jax pulled the drawer out as far as it would go without coming out of the desk. There was something at the back… a picture frame?

It was stuck, like it had been put there some time ago, wedged behind everything else, until he'd jostled it free by accident. He put his hand on it, and then…

 _He was somewhere else. Everything sort of looked strange, like it was real but not really._

 _"What…" he breathed, looking around when he heard a sound. A child, laughing, running. A small dark-haired girl ran past him, and then a boy, older, chasing after her with the playfulness of a brother, until he caught her and picked her up. She would not consider herself good and caught until she did not have the power to free herself, which, clearly, she still had, as she wriggled free and asked the boy to chase her again. There was something familiar about her, it hit him at once, but he couldn't figure out why._

 _"Alexander," a man's voice called, looking like a grown version of the boy, who turned to look at him and the woman by his side. "Please don't rile her up like that, she'll never stand still for the photos." It was a soft reprimand, the kind that wouldn't have occurred under normal circumstances._

 _"Sorry," said Alexander._

 _"Now as for you, little one," the man scooped up the smiling girl. "I'm going to keep you right here with me, so you'll behave for your old dad, won't you?" She nodded, docile once again. "Thank you, my Lena."_

Jax startled, even as he found himself back in that office inside the base, holding the frame, now free in his hands. It showed a picture of the man and woman, boy and girl, just as he'd seen them a moment ago, when they'd been so real in front of him without appearing to realize he was there. And the girl… She _had_ looked familiar, and now he knew why, she'd told him her real name once, but… it wasn't possible…

"Jax?" Detective Raatko asked. Now that he looked up, he saw that both she and Rory were standing next to him, looking at him. They must have noticed when he… What _had_ he done exactly?

"Was I… Was I always here just now?"

"You were, but you wouldn't answer us. What happened, what's that?" Rory asked, looking at the frame still in his hand.

What could they do? It had been stuck back there like it hadn't been touched in so long, would they realize something was missing if it was _this_ something?

"Never mind that," he said, lowering his arm but keeping hold of the frame. "Did you find anything?"

"Possibly, but we'll need to take it to Stein and Wells, hopefully they can make sense of it. I have pictures," she held up her phone. While they were out here on Breach, it was little more than a glorified camera anyway.

"Then let's get out of here… now," Jax told them, opening a breach.

"What about the project rooms?" Rory asked.

"Never mind that, we have enough, come on." So, they left, with the pictures in Nyssa's phone, and the one in Jax' hand.

X

 **THE GENERAL'S OFFICE**

Evelyn couldn't say for certain whether she would have been seen so quickly if not for Laura Zeta's presence by her side. Her name, coupled with the association to Stein Labs, was recognized for what it was: a potential for some upper hand or another. The General had been advised of their presence, and their request to see her, and she had granted them entrance. Even as they went in, Evelyn felt like she'd just started a timer in her head. It this took too long without needing to take _so_ long, she'd know something was up, and they'd be in trouble.

It would have been easy to say that, with Laura going in and using her position to get a meeting with the General, Evelyn herself didn't exactly need to be there, but that wasn't so. Laura was coming to back her up, to protect her, as far as Laura was concerned, clearly, though to Evelyn what was clear was that _she'd_ be doing the protecting. No way was she letting anything happen to Kara's mom.

She had worked out what she would say to the General when they met. If the woman knew anything at all about her, beyond her connection to the jewel at her throat, it would be that she was a tried and true Tradeswoman, so she'd be wondering what someone like her was doing, wanting to join up with the resistance. There could not have been a better time for her to make this move.

Evelyn and Laura now sat in the office, with the General taking her seat across from them, straight backed but in no way stiff. She smiled.

"Am I hearing this right? I was told you were seeking to enlist, Miss Sharp?"

"Yes, ma'am," she nodded. The General tipped her head. There it was. "It's no secret, I've been of the Trades since I was a kid… As you may or may not know, I was born in the prison that was attacked. I lived there for years, with my mother, until she died." Whenever she'd speak of her, it was reflex, her hand would brush against the pendant, not so much that she'd activate its power, but enough that she felt her mother's spirit.

"So, you joined the Trades to survive," the General filled the gap of her silence.

"I guess you could put it that way. But it was more than that, and my being here doesn't change that, it can't. The thing is, with everything that's happened the last few days, all I've been able to think is… maybe sometimes you can't just stay out of it, maybe you need to get involved, pick a side, do whatever it takes. If I have to choose one over the other, well… here I am."

The General looked at her, smiling, understanding. She sat forward in her chair now.

"Do you want to know something?" she asked. Evelyn nodded. "I was born to the Trades myself." Evelyn's eyes grew wide. She had _not_ known this, and her surprise could not have been contained. Suddenly, it painted a very different picture of the woman in her head. Not a bad one, just… different.

"You were?"

"Knowing how they tend to react if any of theirs chooses a side, what tends to happen after someone goes?" She didn't have to say it, she knew. They'd never be spoken of again, like they'd never been there. It was not something anyone outside the Trades would have known to feel out, to understand. "I was about your age when I made the choice. And I made that choice in a similar fashion.

"There had been an attack, one of the… deadliest, bloodiest, we had seen in a long time back then. I lost… my mother, three of my siblings, half my classmates at school… And beyond the people I'd lost, there were the people that others had lost, on that day, and on so many other days, and I couldn't allow it to go on, so I did the only thing I knew to do. I stood up, and I picked the side I believed would help others like me to not have to go through all those terrible losses."

Evelyn had told the others she was an excellent reader of character, and she was. She had never spoken to the woman before, but she knew in that moment that she could not know what was going on. Unless she had seriously underestimated her ability to lie – and she was sure she hadn't – then there was no way. This was someone who valued life to the utmost, and that would include everyone, on either side.

Also, everything she had seen and heard told her that she wouldn't be the only one here who could read people. Then again, if that was so, then she'd have to know what was happening in special projects. She'd never allow it to go on, would she?

"Why are you really here?" the General asked, proving her point… or part of it at least. Evelyn looked to Laura. "You're not here about working with us either, are you?"

"We know who's been launching those grenades," Evelyn spoke up, and the General turned back to her.

As directly as possible, without insinuating anything more than the facts they had at the ready, Evelyn and Laura had explained to the General the discoveries they'd made regarding the involvement of the special projects. The fact that it had put them in the position of wondering how much _she_ might have known, or whether she was involved was not brought up, though they expected by now that she would have understood as much.

When it was over, the General sat back, letting out a breath. Right then and there, she seemed more herself than 'the General.' Evelyn could almost see the Tradeswoman she had once been, right there under her features. She also understood what had caused the shift in her. They both knew that the joining of forces they'd started to work toward just wouldn't hold. They might be able to prevent the all-out chaos people had attempted to create here, so things wouldn't get worse… They wouldn't get any better though either.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	47. DAY 093 (vol 1, ch 47)

_Day 93 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 47_

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**  
 ** _THE TIME SHIP WAVERIDER  
_ _(GRANT INNOVATIONS designation)_**

When they had all gone to bed that night, residents and visitors to the Waverider, it felt as though this day had been going on for an eternity. They barely remembered how the day had begun. It should have made for instant, deep sleep. Not all of them succeeded.

Carter had been tossing and turning. He'd been here, just this morning, his captivity had been less than a day, and maybe it could have been that it didn't affect him so much, or that it wouldn't have had the time to affect him. But they'd all known about these people, Wallace, then Zari, then Mag, and Ronnie, who had been taken, and once he'd been one of them, it almost felt as though it compounded his presence there.

Except he had been a captive before. He had been captive for the first fifteen years of his life, stuck behind the walls of quarantine. When he had gotten out of there, he never wanted to be held down again. Lying down in bed, he had started to feel like the walls were closing in on him. Finally, he sat forward, looking around the quiet room, so many on the cots around him.

"Carter?" Evelyn whispered, from the cot next to him. She was staring back at him. If there was someone here who would understand what was troubling him, it would be her; she'd been born in captivity, too. He'd gotten her out of that, it had bonded them. With a sigh, he nodded to the door, and they got up, padding quietly into the hall.

They walked silently all the way back to the galley. It seemed like they always ended up there, cultivating a curiosity for the foods they'd never even known to exist. This was not what they did now, although Evelyn had planted a couple of her top discovery – donuts – on the table in front of them, before sitting with him. For a while they just talked of what they'd done today, his escape, her 'ruse' at the base…

"She's from the Trades?" he'd repeated, as shocked as she'd been, when Evelyn told him what the General had told her.

"She was," she nodded. They were silent for a moment. Not all of them agreed with the treatment of those who chose a side.

Before long, their sleepless table of two became a table of three. Kara walked into the galley, looking as though she might have guessed the two of them were here from finding their empty cots. She took a seat with them, saying nothing. Evelyn slid the untouched plate of donuts toward her, but she shook her head to refuse. The motion had been a mistake. She pressed her hands to the sides of her head, feeling that pounding pain that had been keeping her awake.

"It's still that bad?" Evelyn asked sympathetically. "You should talk to Laura, or…"

"It'll pass," Kara insisted. "It was worse before." She took a breath, and another, before looking back to them. "Don't tell them," she asked her friends. "None of them. Please."

"We won't," Evelyn told her, then, "But only if you tell _us_. If it gets better… if it gets worse." Kara hesitated, but she agreed. She didn't nod this time.

Come morning time, they would be found, all three of them sleeping with their heads against their arms crossed on the table, the donuts left to dry between them.

X

The three in the galley had not been the only ones with trouble sleeping, heading into this new day. But unlike them, who'd eventually seen exhaustion win out, bed or no bed, Jax could not say that he had slept a single moment. He'd gone to lie down like the rest of them, and as he'd done so, he'd spotted Seeker, settling on to her own cot, and then… then all his chances for sleep had died.

He couldn't stop thinking about what he'd seen in that… that… He didn't even know what to call it, a vision? Was that part of his power? He'd never done it before, he couldn't see how it could be, but then what were the odds he'd have two powers that were in no way related to one another? So, it had to be something, or else he had really hallucinated bad. But the photo… and the people he'd seen in the temporarily-named vision…

After a few days sleeping here, he had figured out pretty quick when morning rolled around. He sat up on his cot, setting his feet on the ground. He was young, he could pull an all-nighter if he needed to, sure, but there were limits, especially when whatever he'd been doing before was involved, and no matter what, on the other side of that all-nighter there would be the promise of sleep. Only that wasn't going to happen, not for him…

He didn't think he would sleep until he told her the truth.

So, as everyone started to get up and leave the room set up with their cots, he'd caught her eye and made a head gesture as though to say 'stick around.' She nodded, and she stuck around, waiting until everyone else had gone off to get their breakfast.

"What's the big secret?" she asked with a curious smile, crossing the room to join him. He stared back at her, his mouth opening and closing, failing to produce words. He didn't know how to start. "Hey…" she asked, her smile shifting into concern. "Is everything alright?" He breathed out. Maybe if he started talking, even if he didn't leap immediately into the subject, he would manage to string something together.

"Something happened, yesterday, when we were at the base, in the special projects wing," he told her. "I haven't told the others, not even Dinah or Rory know and they were there with me."

"Okay…" she spoke slowly.

"I had a, uh… I had…" Another breath expelled… "I had, I guess you could say a… vision." She straightened up at this, intrigued.

"Of course, it makes sense," she declared. Now he was the one to straighten up.

"It does?" he blinked.

"Sure," she laughed. "You have a… connection to reality, I guess you could say. It allows you to open these breaches, and now it also allows you to tap in to another side of all that, too. That's fantastic." She looked so happy for him, and he wanted to be happy, too, except he knew what her next question would be. "So, what did you see?"

"I saw… you." She still smiled. "I saw you… when you were a little girl." Here her smile began to falter, like it only stayed to her face because she forgot to bring it down. "I didn't recognize you at first, but I did think you looked familiar. You were running around a big house, being chased by a boy. He was called Alexander, that's… that's your brother, right?" Her composure was hanging on by a thread now.

"It was," she confirmed, one tear and then another rolling down her cheek.

"Then there was a man, and a woman. The man, he didn't want your brother to get you going, because you were supposed to take pictures. He picked you up, he said…" He had to pause briefly, recalling the vision. "He said 'I'm going to keep you right here with me, so you'll behave for your old dad, won't you?' You nodded to him, and he said 'Thank you, my Lena.' That's when it stopped."

She took a few steps back, pacing slowly, hiding her face from him. He looked around, patted at his pockets. Failing for tissues, he found one of the spare blankets, still folded, and handed it to her. Under normal circumstances it might have liberated a laugh from her, but she only took it and dabbed at her face. After a few moments, she was able to speak again.

"I don't understand, why would you see all that?" she asked. He hesitated again. She turned to look at him. Her eyes were red, her face just on this side of blotchy. He reached into his jacket.

"It happened when I touched this," he held out the frame to her, the photo taken the day of that vision, the photo also sitting in her mother's rooms in the abandoned house. She saw it and she closed her eyes, new tears rising. She didn't speak, but the shake of her head said it all. She didn't understand what was happening. "It was stuck in the back of a drawer, in the desk, in the office of the person in charge of the special projects."

"No," she shook her head, a new determination in her. "It's not possible."

"Your family…"

"They died. They all died, and I was… I was all alone." Jax wished he'd had the presence of mind to get someone else to stay with him while he spoke to her.

"I know how it's going to sound, but are you sure?" She stared at him.

"I held… my mother… I held her body, in my arms, she died, Jax. She died."

"What about your brother, your father?" She bowed her head, crying again. He had opened up old wounds in her, and he wished nothing more than to close them. She'd become a friend, someone who understood his powers because hers were sort of similar. He hated doing this to her.

She breathed, ragged breaths, trying to will herself to stop, to think, to speak.

She looked back at him, shaking her head, like she didn't want to believe it. She didn't say it, but he knew. She'd never seen their bodies, had nothing but the word of her mother to confirm their deaths or to deny them.

"What's going on here?" He looked up, finding, to some relief, Gideon. Maybe she'd know what to do. Jax looked to Seeker. If she didn't want him to say… But she nodded, so with a breath, Jax turned to Gideon and explained the whole thing, the office, the frame, the vision…

The way she stood there, silently looking at the both of them, Jax had a feeling his gladness for Hawkgirl's arrival might be short-lived.

"We saw the same picture in her mother's house yesterday," Gideon told Jax. "I… I took it with me, too," she confessed, and the other two looked at her.

"Why?" Seeker asked, part of her understanding where this was going already and wishing she had the power to stop it before it became part of her knowledge. But Gideon took the frame from Jax and she turned it to face them, her finger tapping at one person.

"Because I recognized him. He runs the projects. He made us what we became."

Her finger was hovering over the smiling face of a young and presumed dead Alexander Luthor.

X

 **RESISTANCE ARMY BASE**

There would be no need for them to doubt their being received at the base that day, no need to breach in or sneak in some other way. They were expected, and were to be escorted through at the behest of the General. They were to be taken into the special projects wing, where they would be allowed to search the entire place, top to bottom, as impartial observers. If there remained any other grenades, if any of them were here, they would be found, and they would be sent to be destroyed along with the rest. And if there were any other soldiers with the idea to join that particular…

There was something in the air as soon as they'd gone into the wing. Not something like the poison, but a deep sense of foreboding. Something wasn't right.

It didn't take them long to find out what that something was.

They had gone into Project Horus first, where they expected to find some more of their soldiers, those who had completed their treatments, others still in the process. And they did find them, yes, but there'd be no interrogating anyone. They were dead, every one.

Checking each one, inspecting their surroundings, they realized someone had put something in their dinners the night before. Each one had eaten, each one had been poisoned, and each one had collapsed and died. Save for the two in holding at Stein Labs and Rip and Gideon, Project Horus had been wiped out.

They went into Project Neptune. Their soldiers were all floating dead in their tanks.

They went into Project Mercury. It was empty.

They went into Project Titan. Their strong men and women had died clawing for air like the rest of them.

Not a single project soldier had been spared. As for the staff, _they_ had received their thanks off in their own rooms, in much the same fashion.

"The director isn't here," the General had told the others, still looking dazed at what she'd seen. They all were, obviously, but it was different for her. These were her recruits, her soldiers, her people. And they'd all been murdered rather than to be allowed to say what they knew.

X

 **STEIN LABS**

While the rest of their team was down at the resistance base, combing through rooms that called back the sights they'd seen at the WQI, at the school, and the precinct in Haven, there was the grenade disposal operation back at Stein Labs, consisting of Stein, Wells, Zeta, and Firestorm.

They had been considering the best way to dispose of the grenades, to ensure their contents would never manage to leak out and kill anyone else, long before this morning, but it wasn't until the night before that the solution had presented itself to them. As Stein and his associates came to learn, the combined form of Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne had the power of transmutation.

Given sufficient information, they would be able to take hold of the grenades and turn them into something else, something as inoffensive as flowers.

So, that was what they did. One by one, they would take a grenade in their hands, and after several seconds the grenade, and its contents, would become a single flower. If that wasn't a proper tribute, they didn't know what would be.

Of course, this would only be part of the solution. They had scanned the city again, stronger this time than when they'd first been attempting to track it down, and they confirmed there was no more of the weapon, in its original form or otherwise. Similar scans would be performed across the whole of Breach Earth, and Main, too. Even if they all came back clean, that would not change the fact that the way to create more of it still existed. They would need to do something about Mist.

X

 **RESISTANCE ARMY BASE**

She had asked to search the director's office. As far as anyone in the resistance knew – save for the General – the room had never been searched before. Seeker's reasons to want into the room had nothing to do with what anyone else was doing, no. She just needed to see it, needed to try and understand.

When she walked in, shut the door behind her, it nearly made her faint. She had never been here before, but she looked around and it reminded her so much of her brother's room. This place screamed Lex… It made _her_ want to scream.

Her brother was dead, he and their father both, her mother had told her, she had… She'd been devastated, hadn't she? She'd lost her husband, her baby boy… She had to have believed it was true, but then how could it be? It was to be her curse, she guessed, that she had been too young at the time, leaving her mother to try and shield her from the details of their deaths. And now she couldn't ask her mother as an adult, because _she_ had been killed.

The only one who would know the truth now would be Lex, unless… _My Lena…_ No… If her brother was still alive, was there a chance her father was, too?

She couldn't ask Lex either. He'd gone on the run, he… Oh… Had it been his call? Had he poisoned all those people?

This wasn't him, this couldn't be him. Her big brother had been her hero, her inspiration. When he'd died, it had torn her heart in pieces, like he'd taken one part along with him, and so had her father, and then her mother, too, some years later. Now here she was, with a quarter of her heart left to her, and she'd been betrayed by the phantom portion of her heart devoted to her big brother.

She'd seen his face, earlier that morning, after Jax had told her what he'd seen, and after Gideon had said her piece. As it turned out, a team from those who'd been dealing with Main's issues had come through War, and they'd accessed footage from a few days ago. Gideon had shown it to her, and there he'd been. Lex. He had no more hair, but she saw his face and it was like their father lived again in him.

She tried to stop and think, to think back to when he'd been alive… Well, to when they were children, she'd have to say now. _He's alive… Lex is alive…_ She tried to think like he would then, hoping that she might find something in here, hidden or simply not so obvious to someone who didn't know him.

It got her nothing. She looked, and looked, but she found nothing. Whoever this man that Lex had grown up to be was, however he thought, she simply had no tie to it. Her brother _had_ died. This man was a whole other thing. _He killed them all…_ And he had sent the others, the ones they had in custody. He was involved in the deployment of the weapon that had killed all those people in War and in Haven. This was not her brother. She would not hesitate to stop him. If she ever saw him again…

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	48. DAY 095 (vol 1, ch 48)

_Day 95 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 48_

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**  
 ** _THE TIME SHIP WAVERIDER  
_ _(GRANT INNOVATIONS designation)_**

After having spent days where, much as it would have helped them to move things forward, communication with the other quarters, with the outposts, was often made complicated, to now see the flow of that communication restored was sort of surprising. Here they were, having sent word all around of the specs for a deep scan of their quarters, telling them whether there remained any trace of the weapon's materials or completed assembly, and within the hour the reports were coming in from everywhere.

Haven, clear. Dark, clear. Light, Future, Underground, Floated, Desert, Slow, on and on… all clear. In the case of Mist, naturally, the scans could only do so much, seeing as they were surrounded with what was in every way the key ingredient, but so long as all traces originated from places where they were meant to originate, then they had to trust that it was as close to a 'clear' verdict as they would need.

Whatever they had been doing, they had stopped it. It was a relief, true, a victory, but it felt just a little hollow. It couldn't be helped. Their victory would not bring back all those who had died so senselessly, both the victims of the attacks and the soldiers slaughtered back at the base. The best they could concentrate on was the knowledge that it could have been much worse and they had stopped _that_.

The last of the grenades had been transmutated, leaving behind nothing but flowers, vibrant and alive. They would be left at the school, the WQI, the prison, and the precinct in Haven.

Everything was drawing to an end for this team, the Waverider's temporary, patched together team. They had started out with one team assembled by those of its permanent crew, joined by another brought together by Seeker and Black Siren, and, looking back now, they knew they would have been lost without all of them.

They would be going home soon, and although they would be able to put this whole thing behind them, it was simply impossible to think any one of them would be able to completely set it aside. It would stay with them, for the rest of their lives. Some of them would have been changed by it, made to consider new options for their future. For others, the changes would feel more like scars than growth, making them wish nothing more than to go back, to unlearn some of what they had learned.

They weren't leaving though, not yet. There was a couple more things they needed to see through to the end, or near enough to it, before they could really close the book on this mission.

X

 **STEIN LABS**

They had been gathered from their respective quarters by Jax and Seeker. With Stein and Laura speaking for War, and Wells for Haven, it would see ten quarters represented between all of them and, hopefully, it would be enough to come to a solution.

Seeker had brought along her contact from Frozen, and Stein's from Slow, the young man from the Maintenance Guild of Underground, and Stein's friends the twins from Desert, while Jax had fetched the brother and sister from Mist, the woman he'd woken up in the middle of the bright night of Light, the thirteen-year-old ARGUS brat prodigy girl, and of course his father, from Future. On that one, there had been the slightest fear in him like the entire team would have been a very realistic fever dream.

But it wasn't. His father had been there, and when he'd explained how they were gathering people, some of the scientists they'd delivered the Mist packs to, in order to address what they'd discovered and to hopefully find some solution to prevent any further attacks, he had gladly gone along.

Now here they were, the twelve of them with various forms of research notes, some of them on paper, others on tablets, some with nothing written down, only the knowledge accumulated in their brains. But they had all been working ceaselessly since they had received their packs, and it showed. Every one of them had found new properties of this, or new solutions for that… They would continue to work, in all likelihood, until after the Waverider had gone and brought its crew home, wherever that may be.

In most all cases there seemed to be some particular interest in the origin of Mist's poisonous troubles. Even the pair from that quarter itself could not say that there was a definite understanding as to how their city had become the way it was. There was no telling how long it would be before they figured it out, or if they would figure it out, but the belief growing among them was that finding that information might well be critical to their research.

X

 **RESISTANCE ARMY BASE**

Ralph Dibny had been summoned by the General so that they might discuss the remaining project soldiers, the ones who'd been captured after the siege on Silent. For the time being, no one but those involved in their capture and detainment and the General herself knew that those eleven were both alive and in their custody. In light of what had happened to the others, the intention was to keep it that way, at least for the foreseeable future.

But sooner or later they were going to have to decide what to do with them. Did they believe that the soldiers could be rehabilitated, taken away from the path they had started to follow? Those of Titan, Neptune, Mercury, and Horus were one thing. They were her soldiers, people she'd known, good people, who'd been changed, under Alexander Luthor's experiments.

Each one of them had been interrogated since their capture. Those of Mercury, as far as they could tell, might have been the easiest to set back on track. All they'd ever wanted was something to make them better, a cure, something that would lift the death sentence placed over their heads by what had been done to them. Slade had spoken to all of them, explained that for the time being they didn't know that there would ever be a way to prevent their dying out in the year to come. But they would try to find a way, and if there really wasn't, then they would do everything they could in order to ensure that they did not suffer in the last months they had left to them.

Of the soldiers from Horus and Neptune, while there continued to be a lot of talking back coming from them, born of the pride they had in what they had become, there was also a differing motivation underneath. The sisters out of Horus had taken their wings as symbols of their no longer being the defenseless children they had once been. They were – sometimes literally – above it all. As for the pair out of Project Neptune, they could see how the changes they had undergone had in many ways separated them from their humanity. They belonged to the water now, and as much as they revelled in it, there was a part of them that regretted what they'd lost.

As for the Titan… Well, he saw himself as a god, and no amount of their talk would make him waver.

When they had heard about what had happened to their fellow subjects, to the people running the projects, they had all looked stricken, bravado melted away to nothing, except for the Titan, of course. He had survived, as he should have. It didn't matter that his fellows of Titan, 'gods' like himself, had perished very well despite all this. For the others, it was unclear whether the realization of their near deaths would do anything to sway them back, but maybe, hopefully, it would change in the long run.

Then there was still the issue of Svarog.

Had _their_ soldiers been slaughtered, too? They didn't know, and until they could either get on the enemy aligned base, or their soldiers attacked, there would be no way of knowing. The General swore to Ralph that, as far as the resistance was concerned, the special projects wing would be shut down permanently, the experiment put to the ground, as it should have been long ago. If Svarog continued to thrive, it might be that the city would be in for a new wave of destruction…

"We will find a way," the General swore to Ralph. "The resistance will bounce back from this, as it has bounced back from troubles before. As long as I stand at the head of this army, I won't let myself be blinded to what takes place under my roof. And if I find Alexander Luthor, he will get what's coming to him."

X

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**

With the destruction of all known supplies of the weapon, the surviving project soldiers' fate in the General's hands, and the summit for the Mist solution underway, there really was no reason to keep any of the rest of them in War any longer. It was time to go home, which meant a first parting of the ways.

Harrison Wells would be finding his own way back to Haven, after the summit was done, which could be days, or weeks, maybe more… But with the departure of the Waverider, it now left him with something of a choice to make, as he considered what would happen after the summit was over.

He had remained in Haven all this time, he thought, because sooner or later his daughter would come back to him. That might have been the case once upon a time, but everything in the past few days had forced him to question whether or not he was holding on to empty air more than his girl.

He had been visited by Director Heywood, who had personally informed him of what Jesse had done at headquarters, the two agents she had killed in the process of breaking out Raymond and Nate. When he had heard this, Harrison had felt it… his hand, closed on empty air. He had lost her.

If ever the two of them managed to find a way to peace, as impossible as it sounded now, there would always be this thing between them, reminding him that she wasn't the girl he'd raised anymore. She had given herself over to Livewire, to what she'd been made into, just because he couldn't bear to see her die all those years ago. What could he have done? He couldn't have known this was what she would become. He couldn't let her die…

When this was over, he didn't want to go back, not to that house, not to Haven. It was time to let go, to make something more of himself than a father waiting for a daughter that would not return. He could stay here, in War, continue working side by side with Martin Stein and Laura Zeta… They could accomplish so much, and he… he needed to accomplish so much more.

"I understand some of what you're going through," the director had told him. "One of those they freed is my grandson." Harrison had looked to him, surprised. "One day, if you need to talk, I would be glad to tell you all about it."

While Harrison Wells was contemplating staying in War, there were others debating whether or not to stay.

"Maybe we could find somewhere else to be," Evelyn had suggested, as she and Carter sat back, watching the sort of going away party that seemed to be happening in the galley. He looked at her.

"Somewhere else…"

"We could go to another quarter, or the other Earth. There is so much out there, more than the fighting, the destruction, the death… They keep tearing at each other, over and over, and you and me, we're Tradespeople, we don't get involved. So, let's not get involved by seeing what else there is." It made him smile to see her excited like this.

"You want to taste all the food," he declared. Evelyn laughed.

"Of course, I do, that's the best part," she shrugged with a happy grin. "That, and not having to look over our shoulders half the time, wondering when the next Call to Shelter will be, the next attack… I'm not saying we need to leave forever, I just… don't want to spend my whole life surviving. I want to live for a while, be more than the prison ward, the orphan, the Tradesgirl, Tradeswoman… Mistral… I want more. And I want you there with me to see it, to live it, too."

"I'm not about to leave you behind to have all the fun by yourself… Think of the trouble you could get into." She played hurt, though in that full, floating levity, she couldn't hold on to it for very long.

"So, where should we go first?" she asked him.

"I don't know, maybe… the other Earth. I would like to introduce you to the people I met, when I was in that room." Of all the faces this thought could have conjured in him, the one that came first was that of the one calling herself Artemis… Kendra Saunders…

"Okay, let's do that," Evelyn agreed. "We can follow on the Waverider. Think they'll give us one of those little things that makes breaches?"

The closer they were coming to the departure from War, the more Kara knew she would have to make some kind of decision about her mother… the one she'd made here. She had to talk to Laura, had to make up for how she'd just left before, never getting the chance to speak to Eliot again.

When she and Alexandra had that talk, back in Haven, when she'd heard how her sister assumed she'd want to stay here again, Kara had told her that wasn't her intention. And she meant it. She hadn't said that she'd never even considered it, because of course she had, in the back of her mind, more times than she could say, even before they'd come back here.

But she knew Haven was the place where she needed to be. And there was no doubt in her mind that Laura understood it.

"Can we go and talk somewhere?" she'd finally approached her, and Laura had smiled, leading her off to the room she'd use, sometimes, when it wasn't safe to leave the labs and head back to her house. Kara had not set foot in this place since before she'd gone back to Haven, and she'd sort of forgotten it, but now…

It was full of her, and Eliot, the people who had always mattered to Laura the most. In here, they lived with her, no matter what.

They sat on the small bed tucked in the corner, and immediately Laura's careful hand went at brushing Kara's hair from her face, feeling for her forehead. She'd forgotten how soothing it could be, though she remembered so many times like this, remembered soft lullabies, in those early years when she'd still been so lost. She leaned into that touch as it made her heart swell with joy.

"Your head's still troubling you, isn't it?" Laura asked. Kara opened her eyes, looking at her.

"It's hard to explain. It doesn't hurt the same as before, maybe sleeping helped, but… there's still something, and I can't explain it." Laura was looking at her now, with that face that was at once a mother's concern and a scientist's intrigue. "They checked my head, Catherine sort of insisted, there's nothing wrong with me, but it still feels like there is…"

"If that's the case, then no one will be able to tell you what it is except you. Just give it time." Kara let out a breath, looking at her.

"I'm ready to go back to Haven, but I…" she breathed in again, expelled it. It felt like she could cry, and she didn't want to. "I don't…"

Laura embraced her, no words required. Kara didn't want to have to leave her behind again. Before she'd gone back to Haven, they had mostly drifted apart, and it had taken losing her entirely to understand just how stupid it had been to allow it to happen. Now that she had her back, she couldn't stand to lose her again. And having lost Eliot already, having seen the current state of War, she feared more than ever that, if she left now, it would be the last time she saw her mother.

"Whatever happens after today, things will be different. You have ways to return, and maybe I'll have ways to return the favor. I would like to see the place where you were born, where you've lived. I would like to meet your mother. The two of us have you in common, dear girl. We both have stories to share with one another. The years before and the years after…"

The tears couldn't be held back now, holding tightly to Laura Zeta. She had spent so much time trying to understand if she was meant to be Kara Danvers or Kara Zeta, it had somehow never occurred to her that she could be both. She wasn't supposed to keep them separated, they had to be one person, because _she_ was one person, whether her situation made her feel like two, or three…

As they'd left the small room to rejoin the others, Kara felt happier than she had in a long time. She had been home, here in War, and now she was _going_ home, back to Haven. Whatever was going on inside her head, she trusted in what Laura had told her. It would all sort itself out in time.

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	49. DAY 097 (vol 1, ch 49)

_Day 97 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 49_

 **BREACH EARTH, DARK QUARTER**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

It was quietly offered out to any of them who'd come along to help them that, should they want to be dropped off elsewhere than where they had been taken on, they might be able to make it happen, taking into consideration all that they had done. When it came up to J'onn J'onzz to decide where _he_ would go, there had been nothing for him to really consider.

He was content in the life he led in Dark Quarter. It had taken him a long time to reach that place in his heart, but now that he had arrived there, it would have felt wrong to abandon it. There were people in that city who had grown to depend on him, too. He could not let them down.

The ship had sailed in, cloaked, setting down near the mountainside that would lead to his cave.

"Please," he had turned to the others. "I'm sure that all of you are eager to return to your homes, but it would be my honor to welcome you all into _my_ home, as my guests."

That was how, for an hour or so, they had come to gather in the cave and on the path leading up to it. Looking up from below, the people of the city would see a row of them sitting on the cliffside, their legs dangling over the edge, looking out at the permanent night's sky.

"It's strange," Alexandra told her sister, the two of them sat side by side. Kara looked to her. "It's night. That's all it is, really. But it _feels_ … endless." It made her sister chuckle. Alexandra smiled at that. She'd been so worried for her after that incident with the Neptune soldiers, her being hit with that beam. But she was better this morning, in a way that seemed different, sort of like that night sky that wasn't just a night sky.

"It's morning down there, for them," Kara pointed out. "I think there's a school over there," she indicated, and Alexandra looked to where she was looking, seeing as she did the children headed into the building.

"I remember the first day _you_ went to school. You woke me up in the middle of the night because you were worried you wouldn't be ready on time and your teacher would be mad at you for the whole year."

Kara could only smile at that, though in the back of her mind, all she could think was _Why didn't you just send me back to bed instead of helping me get dressed at 3:37 in the morning?_

Eventually, they had gathered themselves up to start the journey back down to the ship. Last to head down was M'gann, turning to J'onn with a smile and shaking his hand.

"My offer always stands, as you know."

"I do," he smiled back. "Take care of yourself, M'gann."

"And of yourself, J'onn."

X

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**

The team aboard had said goodbye to four of their passengers as they set down in Haven. Mag had gotten off first, making her goodbyes brief. Much as she would like to think that she wouldn't get caught up in emotions, she knew that if she gave it enough time she wouldn't have a choice. These people, most of them strangers to her less than a week ago, had been good to her. And when she had gone missing they had worried for her, genuinely so.

In the long run, she might find herself deciding to give Main Earth another try, but for now she was good with Haven. Like J'onn, she had found a place for herself, a place hard-earned but so very much appreciated. It was still lonely, a lot of the times, and after the time she'd spent in that room, with those people, she'd started to feel like maybe she didn't want to simply allow herself into that loneliness. She wanted to expand her world.

The Danvers sisters had disembarked here as well, along with Seeker, who pointed out that she could make her own way from anywhere. The fact was that all of this had started out of a conversation between Kara and her, and it felt to her that this was how it was meant to end, too.

She also worried, like Alexandra had, and like Laura had, about how she was doing, after that beam blast. And while she might have gotten an honest answer out of her on their own, she wouldn't get any acknowledgment while they remained on the ship.

"We'll come visit you in a while," Evelyn was promising her old friend, embracing her.

"If you don't, I'll track you down, Mistral," Kara smiled, hugging her back.

"Now I almost want that instead, Black Siren," Evelyn gave her a challenging look.

"I'm going to take my turn now, or else we will never leave," Carter took hold of Evelyn's shoulders and steadily pulled her away – to mild complaint – before hugging Kara. "Until next time."

"Next time," she agreed. She watched the two of them head back to the ship, and she watched along with her sister and Seeker as the ship sailed into the sky and disappeared.

They had made their way to their mother's house. The last time they'd been here with her, Eliza Danvers had been steadfast about not leaving her home behind, despite the threat that loomed over the city. Now they would get to return to her with good news and plenty of new stories.

"Don't tell her about what happened with the beam, please?" Kara told the others. "There's no point worrying her more than she has to…"

Her voice trailed off as they came up and she saw the house just ahead.

Something about being here, just now, made her feel strange. It wasn't a bad strange, except… She didn't know how to say it, but she looked at the house and it had never looked so _real_ to her, never looked so much like _her_ house, even if she didn't actually live here anymore.

"Kara?" Alexandra asked, seeing the look on her face. "Something wrong?"

"No, I…" she blinked, stopped. The door had opened, and Eliza had stepped out, like she'd been watching from the window and had seen her daughters approaching. Kara saw her and… she felt like a rattling in her chest, tears rising out of her from some place she didn't comprehend. All she could hear herself think was _Mom… Mommy… that's my mommy…_

And then she was running.

She tore off like her life depended on it, and she didn't stop until she had reached her mother and could lock her arms around her, sobbing uncontrollably, only with a note that sounded very much like laughter.

"Sweetheart, what's…" Eliza asked, shaken at this display, worrying at what might have caused it, until her younger daughter pulled back, just enough that she could see her face. It was right there, in her eyes, her whole face… There was something new in there, or, no, something old, something returned. And now she was the one in tears, too, pulling her close again without a word.

Eliza may not have known the whole of the feelings that Kara had regarding her lost years, and what their possible return might mean for all of them, but she had watched her daughter since her return to Haven, and no matter how much she'd changed, and grown, she was still hers, and Eliza had been aware of this disconnect in her, this uncertainty.

And when they'd get the chance to sit together, to talk together, Kara would find here just what she'd found from Alexandra, not too long ago. She would find that her mother only ever wanted for her to get to be exactly the person she was, all parts included. It would take some time for Kara to adjust, to sort out these things she was recalling more and more, to bridge the gaps between Haven, and War, and Haven again. She had her family, she had her friends. They would see her through it all.

X

 **BREACH EARTH, NATURE QUARTER**

They could have decided to go anywhere. Well, maybe not anywhere. They weren't looking to leave War and end up in Mist, especially after everything they'd gone through in the past few days. They had spent a lot of the time sitting up outside J'onn J'onzz' cave talking to the Waverider's team, asking them where they should go first. The responses had varied, but eventually they had taken in all that they'd been told, and they had made their decision.

They wanted to go to Nature Quarter. They wanted something that was the opposite of what they'd lived in all their lives. That could have been something like Haven, sure, but really the one place they felt represented much more of a world full of life was this place right here… So many trees, and plant life, so much… green… They breathed in the air and they felt happy. This would do just fine, for a first exploration of this vast, splintered Earth of theirs.

X

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**

 **ARGUS HEADQUARTERS**

As predicted, there came a time where it became clear all those who were not in fact ARGUS personnel would be expected to head out, with the full gratitude not only of Director Heywood but of the whole of the agents who had needed the backup they had all provided. They could not have gotten through the previous four days without them.

However, even as they were receiving these thanks, it had been suggested that all of them might stick around at this moment in time, which had left them to wonder why. Sin had asked if there would be a cake, getting a look from Cisco for her troubles. ("Look me in the eye and tell me you don't want any.")

It wasn't cake, but all in all it was the next best thing. The Waverider had landed back on Main. For several of them, this meant the return of friends and teammates.

Mike and Jax wove through the people gathered in the middle of headquarters until they reached their people, guided by the waving arms of the one they called their niece. There were two faces they had been most eager to find, of course, and they knew none of the others would blame them for it; they'd missed their kidnapped friends just as they had.

All of them standing here now, Jim, and Kendra, and Lisa, Zari, and Jax, and Mike (and Ruby, of course), it was much more the definition of 'coming home' for them, more than when they would all head back to their houses, their apartments… They had become family, working together on a common goal, and they carried that distinction with pride.

Further on, Felicity had welcomed back her own teammates, crewmates. Her second-in-command, their pilot… Having to tell Roy and Rory about what had happened earlier with Malcolm Merlyn and Joseph West was not something she intended to shy away from, but it still felt as though she wasn't obligated to tell it all now. Everyone here, whether they had been trying to control the influx of breachers or whether they had been chasing after a poisonous weapon on Breach Earth, had been working so ceaselessly that right now, if only for the time of a reunion, nothing else mattered than to know that they were all here once again.

Moving along in search of those three faces belonging to their teammates, Barry and Eobard honestly didn't know what to address first, Ronnie's safe return, or their first chance to congratulate both Cait and him for the baby. The closer they'd come, finding the two of them along with Amaya, all it had taken had been a tip of the head from Ronnie and they had swiftly directed their stride toward the new mom to be.

"Just so you know, we've been getting very good with the transmutation, diapers will _not_ be a problem," Barry joked, getting a look from Eobard and covert chuckles from the others.

"I'd rather they be grenades again," Eobard sighed.

As the five of them had cleared out of ARGUS headquarters, Amaya had looked to Barry, telling him about his mother's multiple visits to the building in the past couple of days. Barry nodded, sharing that Cait had already told him as much. Only now that they were back, he kept thinking about the other part, the one Iris West had told him, about how she believed his mother knew he was Firestorm.

X

 **NORCO BUILDING, NORA ALLEN'S OFFICE**

Looking out the window on to the city below, Nora Allen felt a peace rising in her, though it was in many ways a strained one. She could see, standing here, how the troubles of the past several days were coming to a close. As far as she could see there were no more problems with breachers from the other Earth, and Zari Tomaz and the other kidnapped people had all been returned safely home. That was all wonderful, truly, it was. But there was also that other situation, on the other Earth, the one her son was supposed to be involved with. She still hadn't heard from him, she didn't know… What if something had happened to him, what if…

She spotted something in the distance right then. It took only a moment for her to see… fire, and… oh, yes, there he was… Firestorm… her Barry… Except, of course, her knowing who he was underneath the fire, through the pure white eyes, was not something she was to telegraph. As he neared her window, she merely smiled. He stopped there, hovering for a moment, and he pointed up. She imitated the gesture and he nodded, flying upward.

The roof. He wanted her to meet him there.

When she arrived, he still hovered just a few inches off the roof. He stared at her as she came forward. He looked… nervous?

"I haven't seen you in a while," Nora told him. "You were on the… the other…"

"I… yes, but I…" He paused, remaining silent for a few seconds before letting out a sigh.

"Is something wrong? You look…" she started to say, just as Firestorm landed on the roof in swirling mass of flame and… When it cleared away, there stood her son, looking like himself again, only he wasn't alone. An arm's length away from him stood her old friend, Eobard Thawne. "Bar… wh…" her voice stalled, looking from one to the other. "Where did you…" she looked to Eobard. "And you…" she turned back to Barry.

"It's alright, Nora," Eobard said. "It's a long story."

"Tell it, please," Nora continued looking between them.

As best they could, the two of them shared their story. She had heard this story before, at least a version of it, in one of the conversations she'd had with 'Firestorm,' back when he didn't think she knew who he was… actually, back when she genuinely didn't know who he was. There had been a strategic editing out of the part where what she'd believed to be her son on his own was in fact the both of them, merged into one.

"I know how confusing it sounds, believe me, I'm living it, but… After everything that happened the last few days, I… we both thought it was time we told you the truth."

Nora heard these words, and it helped to wash away the initial shock. She looked to her son, and she thought about the time, years and years ago, when her career had very nearly cost her a relationship with her son. She thought about the mistrust it had built up in him, and about how they had slowly been working their way back from that. Today he had shared his biggest secret with her, and the significance of that act was not lost on her. In fact, it made her happier than she could ever say.

"Right," she breathed. "I will order us some lunch, and the two of you will tell me everything you've been doing over there this week," she smiled. They both agreed happily.

X

 **THE BREACH SHIP WAVERIDER**

With the dispersal of their respective 'additional personnel,' the eleven… no, the _twelve_ members of the Waverider's team gathered on the bridge of the ship, united once again after being split near in half all this time. Leonard Snart looked around, to Ralph Dibny who had been his eyes and ears on Breach Earth, to Agents Sharpe, Lane, and Schott, to the Hawks, Rip and Gideon, and the speedster, Slade Wilson, he looked to M'gann, who'd also stepped up to lead in his stead, to the detectives, Lance and Thawne… and to their revealed twelfth, Catherine Grant.

It would take some getting used to, seeing this stranger with the voice of someone so familiar she might actually have been there with them all along, which… well, now they knew she had been. Still… he didn't see the double takes stopping for a while longer.

"It'll take some time before things get back to normal," he addressed his team. "We'll be spending most of the next few weeks checking in on the quarters again, and…" he sighed. "Those five men, who have been pulling our strings this entire time, remain at large. And as long as they do, there's still a possibility they will get up to something again. If there is any way for us to help track them down, we will do that. Reach out to your contacts out there, put out the word. Malcolm Merlyn. Joseph West. Julian Albert. Vandal Savage. And the Enemy, Curtis Holt. Whatever this was all about, it's still out there. It's still not over." _At the risk of sounding cliché, it's only just beginning._

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)_


	50. DAY 099 (vol 1, ch 50)

_Day 99 of 100_

 _Volume 1, Chapter 50_

 **ONE WEEK LATER**

 **MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH**  
 **(ARGUS designation)**

Cait Snow had experience being the voice in their ears, guiding them along. She'd done it for some time, before her speedster abilities had manifested. After that, she'd become one of them, out in the field, and it could have been that not having her back there anymore would hinder them, but then she had her speed, and that had a way of compensating for a lot.

As driven as she'd been before, when she'd gotten her power, it had felt like she'd gotten invigorated to the max, with nothing to stand in her way… Well, she was hyper, if they were going to call it anything. She'd calmed down since then, but she had never been the same as before becoming a speedster.

The last couple of weeks, maybe because of all that had happened, maybe for being tired from the pregnancy, early on as it was, she hadn't felt quite as… up there… But things were slowly going back to normal around the city now, and with the day-to-day returning, there also had to be the return of people, with or without powers, getting up to no good. And that was when they came in. And even though she still struggled with having to be the voice in the ear again, the old rhythm did make her feel just a bit more like herself again.

Out there, the Elongated Man, Killer Frost, and Firestorm had been reconnecting with old rhythms, too. Would they have rather had it that their services were not needed? Sure. But that didn't stop anyone giving them reasons to have to go out there, so there was no time to hang up the costumes.

"You know, between you two… three… and Palmer and Heywood with their guns, and then _those_ guys, it's like I can't get out of this whole fire and ice situation," Ronnie pointed from Killer Frost to Firestorm as they approached the scene of a robbery which appeared to be perpetrated by a couple of metas with some powers in the same veins as his teammates'. They shared a look.

"Switch?" Firestorm asked Killer Frost.

"Fire girl's mine," she grinned.

"And I've got the hostages," nodded the Elongated Man, moving to establish a shield between the store employees and their customers once the fight broke out. "Out this way, there we go, keep your head down. Woah, hey, that stings," he startled at a graze of heat.

When it was all said and done, the metas were packed off in handcuffs, the hostages were fine… It was a good day.

X

They had been in the middle of a nice dinner out, celebrating Zari's new job with NorCo, when they'd heard a word that was bound to perk their ears up. _Breachers_. They'd all looked to one another, all of them around the table. Jim, Kendra, Mike, Jax, Lisa, Zari, Samantha, Ruby… Was it starting again? There hadn't been one peep all week, and then tonight of all nights?

"What do we do?" Kendra asked. Most people wouldn't have expected her to have her bow and arrows anywhere nearby, but then she happened to have some very nice friends in high places, and they had gifted her with some surprisingly discreet and collapsible gear… If she needed to be ready, she would be.

"It's probably nothing," Mike shrugged, matching a few other faces sitting around him.

"The cops can handle it," Jim agreed. Zari let out a sigh.

"Go," she gestured toward the door. Almost at once, Jim, Kendra, Mike, Jax, and Samantha were getting up from their seats and moving to investigate.

"I say we steal all their desserts," Lisa tipped her head to Ruby, receiving a grin in return.

Outside, it hadn't taken long for them to figure out what was going on. It was not as they had suspected, but it _was_ as they'd feared. The city had lived in fear for days, and by now they were finding that some of the people here had shifted from fear to something else, still claimed as fear but coming off as something much more suspicious and hateful.

There were plenty of people in the city who had come here from Breach Earth, weeks ago, months, some years ago. Most of that time they had lived in relative anonymity. Some people did know about Breach Earth and breachers, but it was mostly carried in whispers, rumors. The vast majority either didn't know or didn't believe. That had all changed when the invasion had happened, when they'd been forced to reveal and confirm the existence of this other place. And after that, the people had seen time and again the chaos they had brought with them.

Suddenly, being a breacher on Main meant something else completely. There had been attacks, two deaths… The last thing they wanted was for this sentiment to escalate, becoming Merlyn's team's legacy.

"Hey!" Jim shouted, finding one man trying to pull another from his car, while others had taken to bashing the vehicle in. In one flick, then another, Kendra had an arrow at the ready, while Samantha, the newly dubbed Miss Terrific, had her spheres in her palms. Mike and Jax stood by, ready to jump in where needed. "What do you think you're doing?"

The men looked up, one actually doing a double take, taking in the five of them standing there, ready to take them on. The one who was currently holding the cowering man by the collar opened his mouth to speak, the curve of his brow giving them all a good idea of how this was going to go.

"No, you know what," we don't need to hear it," Kendra told him, taking a step forward. "I suggest you let go of that man and walk away before my finger gets itchy." She would have been sympathetic to the breacher's plight at any time, but then finding out she herself was one of them… It could only add a layer to where she'd stand.

The ones who'd been bashing at the car were the first to drop their bats and crowbars and start to run, leaving their last friend forced to either let go and run or face the five of them head on. He ran. Jim and Kendra moved to check up on the man in the car, as the runners got further and further away.

"Vibe?" Mike asked, and Jax nodded. He turned and opened a breach, the other end taking him into the path of the scampering attackers. Mike and Samantha dashed through along with him. "Now, where were we?"

X

 **ARGUS HEADQUARTERS**

Detective Nyssa Raatko had walked in this morning, waiting to be seen by Director Heywood. She was here for official business and also as an ally to the breachers residing in the city. It was after talking to old friends and contacts, Agents Patty Spivot and Rene Ramirez, that she'd finally decided to come in and discuss the situation with the treatment of resident breachers in the past week. The agents who had shared her experience on the Waverider and on Breach Earth had now come along to bring her through, where she also ran into another contact.

"We heard about the attack last night," Agent Dinah Drake shook her hand.

"It worked out for everyone that people were close and could step in, but we have to do something before this gets out of hand," Nyssa told the trio walking alongside her.

"Director Heywood is eager to hear your proposal," Patty assured her.

"That's good to hear," Nyssa let out a breath.

"Those two that were killed, did you know them?" Rene inquired.

"I did, and so did you," she told him and Dinah, her face grown sad. "Remember those Mist girls you caught giving water from their city to those women out of War?" It hit them both like a brick to the face. Of course, they remembered them, they hadn't realized… "It can't go on this way. We can't let it."

X

 **BREACH EARTH, HAVEN QUARTER**

It was hard to explain what it felt like, having the memories there in her head where she could recall them all over again. It wasn't as though, all of a sudden, she'd seen her life from birth to memory loss in a long stream unfurling in her mind, no, it was really more… well, she guessed it was like anyone having memories, where something you'd see, or hear, or feel… anything, would recall something else that had happened some time before, and… there it would be.

The only difference, in Kara's case, was that up until a week ago, there was a wall obstructing anything that happened before the moment when she'd awakened in War… and now the wall was gone. Now she remembered her fifth birthday party, or her first day of school, or thunderstorms and power outages, all of it… She remembered what had happened that day, with her father…

Her father… The memory of Jeremiah Danvers had come at her in bits and pieces, but more and more, and the more she'd find, the more she'd want to know, to fill him in until he was a whole person, even if it meant missing him, mourning him… The ache of losing a second father, even if he had been her first, was one she would not have wished on anyone, but to have it, to feel it, was more important to her than to push his memory aside.

Getting to tell her mother and her sister about those final moments with him, how he'd tried to protect her to the very end… They had cried, but like Kara the restauration of this final memory was something they received with gratitude.

As a whole, she was still doing her best to figure out some balance between who she was and what the old memories brought into her life. She was still the same person as a whole, she was. Alexandra had told her she would be, and again her big sister had gotten it right. The things that changed were not so much changes as… expansions.

She felt new things, had new ideas, new interpretations, all born out of some newly recalled memory of an event, or an experience, or pieces of advice she had witnessed, or lived, or received. All this time she had feared what recalling those lost years would do to her, but now that it was happening, she didn't remember what she'd ever been that scared about.

It made her mother and Alexandra happy, and she'd known it would, she'd dreaded knowing just how happy it would make them and what it would mean for her. The only way their treatment had really changed was in ensuring that it wasn't all too overwhelming for her. They didn't try to force memories out of her, or expect too much. They saw that she was content, and that was enough.

X

 **HOME OF ALEXANDRA & KARA DANVERS**

Three days after the sisters had returned to Haven with Seeker in tow, the breach hopper had gone on her way, vowing that she would visit them in a few days to see how they were doing. Now here they were, a few days later, and as they walked up to their apartment door they found a note tacked to it.

 _Meet me on the roof. – S_

Looking to one another with curiosity, they'd decided to head up with some caution. Sure, things had been calm for them in the past week, aside from a few instances where the White Canary and Black Siren had seen any occasion for jumping into action, but they could never be too careful, could they?

"What took you so long?" Seeker asked when she heard the door, standing up from where she'd been sitting, looking up at the night sky.

"Take out," Alexandra explained, holding up a bag. "Hungry?"

"Always," Seeker beamed.

Soon, the dinner for two in front of the television had become dinner for three under the stars. They had exchanged stories of what the last few days had been like for each of them, whether it was the sisters, navigating a return home, to jobs, and a mother, and memories, or Seeker, jumping from quarter to quarter, seeing how people were bouncing back but also helping to relocate some breachers running into trouble on Main.

"I've brought a lot of them to Mag. She understands what it's like, having to get away from a bad situation for a second time." Silence had stretched on for a minute or so after that, before a new subject could be found. Now that they'd gone down that road though, it seemed like they never completely got off of it.

Seeker talked about how she'd been trying to track down her brother, the not so deceased Alexander Luthor, to no avail, while Kara talked about remembering Jeremiah, grieving for him, and finding how it only seemed to compound on her grieving for Eliot Zeta, the man who'd become her father when she'd had none to remember, the one she'd never gotten to see again, the way she had with Laura…

"Is it seriously going to come down to me to cheer the two of you up?" Alexandra had frowned after a while, looking to her sister and their friend.

"Well if anyone's going to do it, it won't be us, clearly," Seeker tipped her head to look at her.

"Just so long as it doesn't involve karaoke," Kara added, and Alexandra shook her head.

"No chance you just wouldn't remember _that_ one, huh?"

X

It was two nights later when a knock at the door brought Kara face to face with Catherine Grant. She blinked. "Miss Grant, what are you…"

"Can you keep a secret?" the woman asked.

Once again, she was led up to the roof, only this time there was no take out involved. Instead, there was the jump ship, primed and waiting for them.

"Where are we going?" Kara guessed. Catherine led her to follow until they were inside the small ship and the hatch was closed.

"The where is the easy part, it's the when that's important tonight." It took her a moment to realize the woman really had said those words.

"What?"

"Right, I wasn't sure if that part of my secret had reached you or not. My team on the Waverider had no choice but to learn what had previously been the most well-guarded… Well, never mind. The point here is that while ARGUS has gone to call it a 'breach ship,'" she made air quotes that showed just how much she had approved of this, "The Waverider, _my_ Waverider, is in fact a time ship, the finest one out there… in my time at least."

"Time ship…" Kara repeated. "As in…"

"Time travel," Catherine nodded. "That's the secret I need you to keep, that, and what we're about to do. Even from the others on the Waverider."

"I still don't understand…"

"While we were all scrambling to keep up with what was happening over in War, I spent many hours working side by side with your mother… Laura," she clarified. "We both found that conversation made the hours go by so much faster, and after spending so long speaking to no one who knew I was a living, breathing human being, it felt good." Kara still looked lost. "She had a wish for you, one of those you could never expect to come true, and now, after everything that's happened recently, I got to thinking, it might be nice to find a way to… make it come true."

They were going to War. They were traveling in time. What… or…

"When are we going?" Kara asked, as Haven disappeared and War opened before them.

"This is very important now, maybe the most important thing for you to remember. You cannot give yourself away. By that, I mean no one can know that this is not your time, do you understand?" She could only stare at her, at the city ahead. "Kara," Catherine called until she'd look at her again. "Do you understand?" She nodded. "Good. It's going to feel impossible, but you have to act normal. From what I've been able to pinpoint, this is four months before you left with Seeker and returned to Haven. There was a Call to Shelter, last three days, and it's just been lifted. Do you remember?"

She wanted to say that she did, but her throat felt tight, so she only nodded.

"Good. Took the liberty of finding some clothes that should match, don't ask how. Go and get changed, we don't have much time…" Catherine told her, before squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. Expressions like that, as a time traveler, never felt quite right, although in this case it did apply. If they missed their window, there'd be no reason for her to be where she'd have to be.

Stepping up to the house, she didn't think she could do this. Her emotions had been hard to juggle in the past week, that had been something new. She'd been so guarded since she'd returned to Haven, but right now… right now she felt like she would fall apart.

When she walked inside, she didn't even need to see him, she knew by the tip tapping of fingers drummed on a desk top that he was here. She stepped into his office, and just for that moment before he turned in his chair, that moment where she only had to stare at the back of his head, she allowed the smallest of tremors to take over her face, regaining her composure before she came face to face with Eliot Zeta.

"I thought you'd left," he said, standing up. They'd been stuck in here, those three days of the Call. They hadn't been bad days, despite the confinement, which said a lot for them, with how she'd behave in those last few years before her departure for Haven. She could stay out of touch for months, but then she'd be back, and they would just let her in, until the next time. Looking back on it now, she realized how lucky she'd been, and how ungrateful for it.

"I was about to, I just…" she spoke, and Catherine Grant would be proud of how natural her voice sounded, not at all showing what was going on in her head and her heart. "I guess I wanted to say thank you, for… for taking me in," she told him, then, realizing she might have been saying something she shouldn't, she added, "These last three days."

He just smiled. She'd have to have looked different, just enough that someone would notice, but if he saw it, it didn't register. She remembered him saying there were exactly two people in this world he would give his life for, and she was the one he'd never seen coming. She was his surprise. Just thinking about it now, it threatened to break her composure, but she held on.

"I'm only glad you came to us," he told her, pressing a hand to her shoulder, and she had no choice then. She hugged him close, so he wouldn't see her face, and… and maybe just so she could hold on to him, just this once. When he hugged her back, she swallowed back her tears.

She would keep Catherine Grant's secret. She had given something to her that day, more precious than she could know, although it had been impossible for her to realize that it was this very memory, the morning after that long Call, that had sent Eliot Zeta searching and searching for his missing daughter on the day he was killed, until it had landed him in the wrong place at the wrong time.

* * *

 _TO BE CONCLUDED (tomorrow, in volume 2 - this completes volume 1)_


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